Kreska kresce nierówna – o użyciu łącznika oraz (dwojako zapisywanego) myślnika we współczesnej interpunkcji i ortografii
Trouble with lines – about the use of the hyphen and the dash (written in two ways) in the contemporary punctuation and spelling

Summary/Abstract: In the second half of the 20th century two lines were used in the Polish editorship: the hyphen, being a short line without spaces on both sides (-), and the em dash, a long line with spaces (―). Since the 1990s, under the influence of the computer programs serving for text editing and typesetting, the em dash has been replaced with a shorter line, the en dash (–). The change of the system in the transition period resulted in the use of various lines in written texts (as many as three in some) and the situation has not been fully standardised until now. This refers particularly to texts written by non-professionals, some of whom do not even distinguish the individual lines, confuse one with another, and do not use spaces where necessary or use spaces where not needed. Since the rules for using lines are not generally known, being at the same time complex, the modifications in computer programs consisting in the simplification in introducing the dash and the hyphen from the keyboard give some hope for the improvement of the current situation.

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