Actually, I can't remember if or was the em dash, and/or if the en dash was used for the above...
The en dash is the length of an N and the em dash the length of an M. Except where they aren't. The ratio should be ~1:2 but depends on the font.
The Chicago Manual of Style uses em dashes in the manner you did, with no spaces. This means it's almost certainly wrong. Outside the US en dashes with spaces before and after are more common and frankly easier on a standard keyboard. And - IMO - easier on the eyes.
Why are you so pessimistic about the CMoS(whatever that is)?
Also, you're probably wrong however bad the CMoS is, the fact is that most, if not all, publishers use the closed dash, not the opened dash. Both styles areIIRCequally correct. I used closed dashes on purpose in my quoted post, while most of the time I use opened ones.
The two books I have right now, one from Princeton Review, the other from Harper Collins, both use closed dashes.
EDIT: I also am guilty of comma overdosage >.>
something that annoys me, both online and in real lfe, but more the latter than the former: 'gay' as an adjective that means some general bad qualities. :\
ex:
This homework is so gay.
That's gay!
You're gay.
:\ They surely don't mean 'happy' when using 'gay', and I don't think the homework is homosexual.
Really. Why the hell is 'gay' a derisive adjective?! (I think I spelled that d-word wrong.)