wordinglisted

# Wording lint ## Why this exists One em or en dash, or one AI-tell construction, makes writing read as machine-generated. This skill is the detect-and-fix pass that keeps them out of anything a reader sees. ## The rules 1. **No em (U+2014) or en (U+2013) dash, anywhere.** Use a hyphen, comma, period, semicolon, parens, or a rewrite. 2. **No colon standing in for an em dash.** A colon that just introduces an elaboration or a bare list should be restructured into a direct sentence, even if slightly less formal. For example, "production software: web apps, mobile apps, and automations" becomes "production software including web apps, mobile apps, and automations". Still fine in clock times, ratios, code, genuine labels, and a real list introduced by a word like "include" or "as follows". 3. **No AI-tell constructions:** - the "No X, just Y" punch ("No run arounds, just results"), - the "it is not X, it is Y" dramatic reversal, - the dismissive close ("that's the whole product / pitch / point"), - the trailing "thinking out loud" hedge, a bound or qualifier tacked onto the end of a finished claim ("a dozen, if that", "a handshake, if you will"), - the topic-announcing opener that previews the answer instead of giving it ("from both sides", "let me break this down"), - the gluey filler transition ("Around that", "On top of that", "That said"), - the over-qualified noun that stacks "which ... and which" clauses. State the point once instead. Flat, infor