Frank Cox wrote:
On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 01:11:55 +0100
Brian Barker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
So I shall call it the swung dash, but I'm perfectly happy if anyone
wants to call it a tilde.
I think this is one of those six-of-one half-dozen-of-the-other deals.
I just did a quick Google search on this, being the snoopy sort and all that.
The character in question is called a "tilde" when it is part of the ASCII
character set; a swung dash (which I had honestly never heard of before this
thread started) is slightly different as you described and is not actually part
of the ASCII character set.
This leads me to believe that a "real" swung dash is a special character that
would be input into an OO document using Insert- Special Chacter, while a tilde
is the character that you type directly on the keyboard.
In Unicode the ASCII tilde character is simply called TILDE and has the
value U+007E. It is called "tilde" in Postscript. This is Brian Barker's
character. In most fonts today it is a full-size character, but in some
older fonts it is small and in a raised position so it is suitable for
use as an acccent. This is its original form as it was introduced into
ASCII as a character to be combined with the preceding or following
character as an accent via the BACKSPACE. (A variant of this character
is FULLWIDTH TILDE at U+FF5E).
Accordingly, it is incorrect to use the name "swung dash" for this
character. The character can be used in place of a swung dash if you are
using a limited character set for some reason because the larger form of
this character somewhat resembles a swung dash. But that is a kludge,
similar to using the ASCII hyphen-minus character instead of the proper
minus sign.
The proper SWUNG DASH is Unicode character U+2053. Applying this name to
the standard ASCII tilde is abnormal and confusing. It should not be done.
In Unicode the normal accent tilde, that is COMBINING TILDE, is U+0303.
It has a spacing clone named SMALL TILDE at U+02DC.
The accent COMBINING TILDE BELOW is U+0330.
The TILDE OPERATOR is U+223C. This is likely to be identical in form to
a large TILDE (U+007E).
The WAVE DASH is U+FF5E.
One does not have to use the standard Unicode names, as a Unicode name
for a character is often only one of many names that are used for a
particular character. But one should use reasonably standard names when
describing characters, not use a name expressly assigned to one
character to describe another character.
Jim Allan
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