I'm old 100, 220, and 440 yard dashes,
Now universalized to metric meters.
Find me in short dashes to market,
Or upon which expression deters.

A dash of this, and a dash of that,
Makes the hash, not taste so flat.
How much is a dash, you inquire?
Don't encourage a cook's ire.

Always thought just hyphen and dash,
So many couldn't even distinguish.
Come to find out there's an EM one,
Like I never learned my English.

A hyphen joins two words,
Into a new compound word.
Until common usage grows,
And the n-word becomes nerd.

A dash designates apparently nothing,
For I know not where it's used.
It's disappeared from the lexicon,
Probably because being abused.

The — is mighty confusing,
Whether to put a space,
Before or after it, I wonder,
Is downright amusing.

Putting a space before and after,
Seems to be the preferred way,
But why bother with all the extra spaces,
When brevity seeks its day.

I guess I'll dash off to other tasks,
With this one, I am dashingly done.