It’s also much harder to type.īut if you’re a cool, contemporary teenager, squiggly lines convey the desired impression of a tilde in a tone far better than the scarily old-fashioned ‘about’ or ‘approximately’ do. ![]() It means almost exactly the same, just with more syllables. You could replace the squiggly line with the word ‘about’ or ‘approximately’. That remained the case until 1918, when the Spanish alphabet was reformed, and the ñ (which had been used for all instances of “n” doubling in some languages) became an official character. Interestingly, the symbol has a name: the tilde.Īround the 12th century, Spanish scribes began using a squiggly line over letters to indicate they were doubled, in an effort to use less paper.Īround 1522, this practice became specific to indicate only an “n” was being doubled. ![]() It’s called an “aspirational” or “tilde” notation, and in computer usage, the tilde sign stands for “approximately equal to,” or, more often these days: approximately.” History of the Squiggly LineĪ squiggly line is a wavy symbol ( ~ ) often found over a letter. ![]() Maybe you use it in your online work, or you’ve seen it in a newspaper (maybe when polling public opinion about something). It’s the sign above the backquote (~), and it indicates approximation.
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