I'd like to type hair spaces either side of em dashes and wonder whether there was a system-wide shortcut that I could use.
A hair space is used when extremely small spaces are needed.
And there are one or two quotations inside quotations where the outer double quote needs a hair space to set off the immediately following inner single quote.
Some writers eschew the use of the em dash - instead, they replace it with the shorter en dash - which is then also surrounded by spaces or hair spaces.
Em dashes look downright stupid without the hair space on either side: normal spaces are much, much too wide, while no space at all makes the text look cramped.
Definition of hair space in US English:
hair space
noun
Printing
A very thin space between letters or words.
〔印刷〕（字母或字间的）最小间隔
Example sentencesExamples
Em dashes look downright stupid without the hair space on either side: normal spaces are much, much too wide, while no space at all makes the text look cramped.
A hair space is used when extremely small spaces are needed.
And there are one or two quotations inside quotations where the outer double quote needs a hair space to set off the immediately following inner single quote.
I'd like to type hair spaces either side of em dashes and wonder whether there was a system-wide shortcut that I could use.
Some writers eschew the use of the em dash - instead, they replace it with the shorter en dash - which is then also surrounded by spaces or hair spaces.