A Dash of Word Salt

Sometimes language becomes an earworm to this Zinzin namer. But instead of a song running through my mind over and over, it’s a single word. And it’s usually one that peaks my curiosity—for whatever weird, or, umm, very professional namer reason.

This time it’s the word dash. It’s having its day in the sun with recent social media talk of the em dash being proof of AI manipulation. To which I call balderdash, but I digress.

As it turns out, my dashing earworm has a pretty fascinating history and a variety of meanings on its own and combined with other words. So don’t dash—stay and explore this everyday word that subtly adds a little spice to our lives.

Defining dash

Head’s up—there are a lot of definitions of dash, but I think that’s part of what’s so surprising about this word. They also give important context to the phrases that follow.

Here’s what Oxford Languages writes about dash:

Origin

Middle English (in the sense ‘strike forcibly against’): probably symbolic of forceful movement and related to Swedish and Danish daska.

Definitions

verb

1. run or travel somewhere in a great hurry
2. strike or fling (something) somewhere with great force, especially so as to have a destructive effect; hurl

• • destroy or frustrate (a person’s hopes or expectations)
  • cause (someone) to lose confidence
  • come into forceful contact with something

exclamation
(INFORMAL, BRITISH) used to express mild annoyance

noun

1. an act of running somewhere suddenly and hastily.

• • a journey or period of time characterized by urgency or eager haste
  • (NORTH AMERICAN) a short, fast race run in one heat; a sprint

2. a small quantity of a substance, especially a liquid, added to something else.

• a small amount of a particular quality adding piquancy or distinctiveness to something else.

3. a horizontal stroke in writing or printing to mark a pause or break in sense or to represent omitted letters or words

• the longer signal of the two used in Morse code
• (MUSIC) a short vertical mark placed above or beneath a note to indicate that it is to be performed in a very staccato manner.

4. impetuous or flamboyant vigor and confidence; panache

5. (INFORMAL) short for dashboard

Dash words and phrases

Dash: an element in Morse code.

Dash: short for dashboard in a vehicle.

Dash, nickname: Dashiell Robert Parr, a fictional young character from the 2004 animated film The Incredibles and its 2018 sequel. Dash has superhuman speed.

“Dash it all!”: old, informal British expression to express anger or frustration.

Dash Off: write something quickly or hastily.

Dash (one’s) hopes: to undercut one’s dreams or optimistic views.

Dasher: the name of one of Santa’s reindeer.

Em Dash: (—) approximately the length of a capital M, this dash functions like a comma, a colon, or parenthesis. It sets off extra information, such as examples, explanatory or descriptive phrases, or supplemental facts. Like a colon, an em dash introduces a clause that explains or expands upon something that precedes it.

En Dash: (–) approximately the length of a capital N, this dash is not popular. It’s mostly encountered in typeset material. (A hyphen does its job in other text.) It is most often used between numbers, dates, or other notations to signify “(up) to and including.”

Even more dash words and phrases

Balderdash: senseless talk or writing; nonsense.

Cut a dash: to look attractive in the clothes one is wearing.

Dash Seasoning, the brand: Dash™ is the salt-free alternative for spicing up meals.

Dine and dash: a phrase used when someone leaves a restaurant without paying for their meal.

Forty-Yard Dash (or any other length): a sprint that measures a player’s speed and acceleration in American football. It’s used by scouts to evaluate players for college recruiting and the NFL draft, and a player’s time can significantly impact their prospects.

Haberdashery: (North American) men’s clothing and accessories.

Mad dash: a wild and uncontrolled rush.

Slapdash: lacking in careful planning, arrangement, execution, etc., especially as a result of carelessness or haste.

“With a dash of salt”: with reservations or the understanding that some rumor or piece of information may not be completely true or accurate. Possibly a reference to an ancient Roman antidote to poison that included or consisted of a grain of salt.

Typography dashes

Joining the em dash and en dash are more fabulous dash-isms. (Mutton dash for the win.)

Figure dash: same length as a numerical unit; generally used for a range of values.

Mutton dash: nickname for em dash.

Nut dash: nickname for en dash.

Oblique dash: also known as a slash (/).

Quotation dash: also known as horizontal bar; used to introduce quoted text.

Swung dash: resembles a lengthened tilde and is used to separate alternatives or approximates.

Wave dash, similar to a tilde; a character represented in Japanese character encoding mainly used as a dash and chōonpu.

Wedge-and-dash: (chemistry) a method of representing the three-dimensional structure of a molecule.

Now that you’re primed and ready, make a mad dash to Wikipedia for more. You’ll see a long list of “dash” brands and other names used in a wide variety of industries.

For instance, there’s DoorDash (online food ordering and delivery) and Houston Dash, a professional women’s soccer team, along with Dash, a cryptocurrency, and much, much more.

The metaphorical dash

There are instances both in literature and religious thought where the word dash takes on a metaphorical meaning to refer to the time between our birth and death.

For instance, in the poem, “The Dash Between,” Linda Ellis relates the physical mark of a dash, or hyphen, on someone’s tombstone to the dash—or time—between the year of birth and death.

Another example is an opinion piece in The Duke Chronicle titled, “What Are You Doing With Your Dash?” The author, the dean of the Duke Chapel, writes,

The dash of life is short. Our mortality should shape our morality. So as you see yourself in quiet, what are you doing with your dash? I hope you are making a life.

Parting thoughts

From speed to typography to symbolizing our very existence, the word dash is a linguistic hero. It’s been around for ages, thriving and morphing before our eyes and ears.

Brands love it because it’s short and easy to say. Visually, it has the nice rounded “D” at the front, followed by one vowel, and a digraph, or two letters that combine to create a single sound. Therefore, it’s tidy, good looking, and rolls off the tongue.

And as you may have noticed in this post, I—a real human copywriter and namer—love the em dash and use it often. If AI feels the same way, kudos. But my hopes would be dashed if people started to believe it was the only mutton dasher in town.