Tomas and I may have been similarly taught: it was drummed into my head that one used, ne . . . point instead of, ne . . . pas to make a point, so to speak. Given that my French classes were more than 50 years ago, could there have been a change in usage?

I was taught the same in the '70s.

I was also taught the same in the '60s. Even my wife who speaks French fluently and went to French schools from kindergarten also thought the "ne .. .point" construct was used to show emphasis. However she said in modern usage that distinction might no longer exists. For whatever it's worth I would like to share the following comment from Word Forum (https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/ne-%E2%80%A6%E2%80%AFpoint-ne-%E2%80%A6-pas.86492/) : " Point est archaïque, effectivement, et on ne l'utilise donc point, sauf par plaisanterie ou pour faire plus littéraire. Ceci dit, si l'on met de côté cet aspect, pas et point me semblent totalement interchangeables. À l'origine, la négation dite avec point était plus forte que celle exprimée avec pas, mais cette distinction n'est plus faite.".

My understanding has always been that NE POINT is simply an alternative - similar to WHILE versus WHILST. I find NE POINT sort of quaint and seldom hear it in conversation. I rarely see it in contemporary written French. I have never seen NE POINT used for emphasis.

My first class was in 1963. POINT for emphasis was not taught at any point. Point!

Merci d'avoir fait le point.....