# I think I'm going to start making ~! a thing. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 2, 2017, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-going-to-start-making-a-thing/776132 "2017-01-02T08:44:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-going-to-start-making-a-thing/776132/1 "2017-01-02T08:44:22Z")
One not entirely uncommon typo for me personally: When I want to end a sentence with an explanation point, I sometimes hit the tilde and the explanation point together (though I must consistently land on the tilde a nanosecond earlier since it always shows up first). So, when I want to end a sentence like THIS! I end up ending the sentence like THIS~! I always correct it, but I’m actually kinda coming to like it. It’s got a certain charm. I’m considering coming up with a specific use for it then making it a thing. My first inclination is to make it my personal punctuational equivalent of a “button” as used by comedy performers (if a comic were to deliver a line completely deadpan, then after a rhythmic pause mug for the audience, the mugging after the line would be the button). So, the tilde would act as the pause and the exclamation point would be the funny face or the rim shot or whatever. I hope that it will someday be as popular as the interrobang. I think I’ll call it the tildeswinton~! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-going-to-start-making-a-thing/776132/2 "2017-01-02T10:16:05Z")
I like it - and I think I would have intuitively understood its intent as \\. I guess an Em Dash or a comma would be a more technically proper indication of pause, but who cares~? ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-going-to-start-making-a-thing/776132/3 "2017-01-02T11:12:48Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I think I would have intuitively understood its intent as \\. Cool! ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-going-to-start-making-a-thing/776132/4 "2017-01-02T13:43:28Z")
To me “~” means “sort of” or “approximately”. So “~!” means “kind of/minimally excited”. E.g., “I just found a quarter on the ground~!” I would _never_ think of a tilde as a pause. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-going-to-start-making-a-thing/776132/5 "2017-01-02T13:44:50Z")
N/m - I need to clean my glasses. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-going-to-start-making-a-thing/776132/6 "2017-01-02T14:15:59Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > To me “~” means “sort of” or “approximately”. So “~!” means “kind of/minimally excited”. E.g., > > “I just found a quarter on the ground~!” Hmmm, this is pretty good too. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-going-to-start-making-a-thing/776132/7 "2017-01-02T14:16:11Z")
Explanation point~? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-going-to-start-making-a-thing/776132/8 "2017-01-02T14:44:11Z")
In this font, the ! and the l and the | look so much alike, I have deemed it rather pointless to use the ! as a convention. I have to use l often, and the | has no composition function, but still, it looks funny to use a ! which looks so much like a l that I simply avoid using it. Bah!. Or is it Bahl. However, now it doesn’t look so bad, because the text entry field uses a different font than the posted comment, so it’s hard to judge before irremediably posting. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-going-to-start-making-a-thing/776132/9 "2017-01-02T15:05:23Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > To me “~” means “sort of” or “approximately”. So “~!” means “kind of/minimally excited”. E.g., > > “I just found a quarter on the ground~!” > > I would _never_ think of a tilde as a pause. This. You could call it the “quasibang.” Or the “bañg”. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2017, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-im-going-to-start-making-a-thing/776132/10 "2017-01-02T15:33:28Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Explanation point~? I assume it’s a typo since he uses “exclamation” point later in his OP. But I did wonder… 😉