&mdash

Is it a word?

In printing there is an Em Dash and an En dash

N-Dash is a -
M-Dash is a longer dash a --

No question that 'em' and 'en' are words. My question was raised
by the first sentence in Maureen Dowd's column in today's New York Times:
'Washington - Whoa!' Are there three words in this sentence?
If so, the second begins with the letter (?) '&'?

Now we know - battle of the pedants. Only a contentious jerk would suggest that a punctuation mark is a word.

2 words - "washington" and "whoa" simple as that.