What IS this thing? (~)

[Ella]

Ok, what is this drunken-passed out-S thing thats forever on the upper left hand side of my keyboard?

Does it have a name?

What is its purpose??

All I've ever seen it used for is to make things pretty
Like signatures
Like this
~Ella~

 

[michaeledward]

tilde

Main Entry: til·de
Pronunciation: 'til-d&
Function: noun
Etymology: Spanish, from Medieval Latin titulus tittle
1 : a mark ~ placed especially over the letter n (as in Spanish señor sir) to denote the sound \ny\ or over vowels (as in Portuguese irmã sister) to indicate nasality
2 a : the mark used to indicate negation in logic and the geometric relation "is similar to" in mathematics b : the mark used to indicate an approximate value

 

[Carol]

Ok, what is this drunken-passed out-S thing thats forever on the upper left hand side of my keyboard?

Does it have a name?

It's called the tilda.

What is its purpose??

All I've ever seen it used for is to make things pretty
Like signatures
Like this
~Ella~

Its a mathmatical symbol used to express an approximation, sometimes in conjunction with the equals sign. Since mathmatics and its associated disciplines (science, engineering, etc.) deal with precision, the tilda is most often used in written mathematical representations when an exact value cannot be calculated (Pi = ~3.14) or is not necessary (a blast radius of ~1000 feet).

 

[Jade Tigress]

Yeah, but how do you use the damn thing? How do you get it over the letter instead of in it's own space?

 

[Carol]

Yeah, but how do you use the damn thing? How do you get it over the letter instead of in it's own space?

Either switch the language of your computer to a language that uses such marks (not recommended unless one has a certain amount of fluency in said language ), or insert them from the ascii charactermap (Click start, then click run, in the empty box type 'charmap' (without the single quotes) and insert the letters from there.

 

[mrhnau]

It's also useful in Vi for changing the case of a letter. Gotta love ~

LOL

 

[Touch Of Death]

I call it a negation symbol.
Sean

 

[tellner]

It's a first cousin to the cedilla, the funny little animal that lives under the c.

 

[crushing]

Yeah, but how do you use the damn thing? How do you get it over the letter instead of in it's own space?

Like this --> ñ

In Windoze, you can hold down your ALT key and press 164. Doesn't work for me on this website though. You could do it in notepad and then copy and paste it here. Or you can use the Character Map app (Start --> Run --> charmap) and copy it from there.

 

[MA-Caver]

Hmm, I've been doing it before my name when I sign my reps (positive OR negative like thus ~MA-Caver :uhyeah:
So I've been negating myself huh? Bummer.

 

[Rich Parsons]

Yeah, but how do you use the damn thing?

I use it as a nose in my smiley face. :~)

 

[MBuzzy]

Hmm, I've been doing it before my name when I sign my reps (positive OR negative like thus ~MA-Caver :uhyeah:
So I've been negating myself huh? Bummer.

Crap! I use it to sign things too....even at work. So all this time I've been saying NOT ME.

 

[tellner]

It could also mean "kinda sorta me" which describes my own mental state most mornings

 

[Ella]

You could say

~~ Ella


*phone conversation last week*

"OW OW! ****! Ow!"
"What? WHAT?! Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just brain freeze..."
"are you eating a bomb pop?"
*pregnant pause*
"I'm not NOT eating a bomb pop..."