# Is ~ (tilde) widely used and understood **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 20, 2026, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449 "2026-08-20T12:12:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2026, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/61 "2026-09-13T17:56:43Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > and if you had that, you’d probably put three (or four) characters on every key. In other words, a [space cadet keyboard](http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/S/space-cadet-keyboard.html) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2026, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/62 "2026-09-13T19:03:28Z")
There are only 88, or 96, glyphs on the golf ball no matter how many shift keys you cram on the keyboard. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/63 "2026-09-29T18:14:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Yeah, more than two characters per key would require another key analogous to Shift (like Control and Alt on computer keyboards), and if you had that, you’d probably put three (or four) characters on every key. Alt Gr (the Alt key to the right of the space bar) is the special key on Swiss German keyboards to help with those 3rd and 4th characters. It’s necessary because Swiss German uses French as well. ☹ Like this one: > **[Swiss German - Keyboard Layout Info](http://kbdlayout.info/KBDSG/)** > > See scancodes, virtual keys, shift states and more for Swiss German as defined in KBDSG.DLL. ---
**Author:** ![Tabco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tabco/32/7644_2.png) [@Tabco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabco)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/64 "2026-09-29T19:52:42Z")
I’m familiar with the use of ~ to denote approximations, and see it from time to time in my work as a civil engineer (I’m partial to “approx.” myself). I also see it used to add what I assume is meant to be a sort of sing-song tone to a phrase, such as “thank you~” or “good morning~”. It seems these uses of ~ are less universal than I thought. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/65 "2026-09-29T20:00:41Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > > [@muldoonthief](#): > > > > ~ is a shortcut to your home path in Unix & Linux > > Really people, get with it, this is the tilde’s primary use. It’s not _approximately_ your home directory, it is exactly your home directory. No, really it’s the _God Key_ for those of us used to playing endlessly buggy Bethesda games on PC. When something breaks, you invoke it to access console commands, and with the right arcane, gnostic prayers and more than a little bit of luck, you can step past the Glitches of Insanity to continue your game. 😜 ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/66 "2026-09-29T21:21:44Z")
> [@CaveMike](#): > > Tilde is not _explicitly_ forbidden as approximately (in the 56th edition). There are rules in the Accent Marks section for usage in names and foreign language, but not a tilde in the Punctuation section. I think the absence makes it implicitly forbidden, but not positive. I have an older edition of the AP Stybook. It says explicity: > Do not use this symbol. If necessary for Internet addresses, write out the word and put it in prentheses with an editor’s note at the story explaining that it is a nontransmitting character. I infer from this that the issue was that not all computerized layout/typesetting programs at that time may not have recognized the tilde. That limitation disappeared over the years, but the “do not use” warning probably lingered on, at least in users’ memories. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2026, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/67 "2026-09-30T00:12:46Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > It can be used for equivalence relations. x ~ y would mean that x and y are in the same equivalence class. Also, similarity/proportionality: triangle ABC ~ triangle AEF, for instance. (The LaTeX macro for the math tilde is called \sim.) ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2026, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/68 "2026-09-30T13:52:56Z")
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