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we need something, but what could it be? how about the little used ~ tilde squiggly thing? who uses that for anything really important? when have you ever used it at all? let's abscond with and repurpose it once and for all, to be used as the new sarcasm mark. the tilde or ~, also referred to informally as squiggly or squiggle, is a grapheme with several uses. the name of the character comes from portuguese and spanish, from the latin titulus meaning "title" or "superscription", though the term "tilde" has evolved and now has a different meaning in linguistics. some refer it to a "flourish". blah blah blah. i call bullshit! i say we hijack and repurpose ~ to denote sarcasm, when used in text based commentary in emails, on websites, social networks, such as twitter and facebook, and in any other of your sarcastic writing endeavors, when placed after the usual punctuation at the end of your sentence. for example: you might type, "bubba wallace is the best race car driver." and by all appearances, the reader mistakenly thinks that you think that bubba wallace is the best race car driver that ever sat behind the wheel, even though you are attempting to serve up a heaping helping of sarcasm. but how would they know? when you add the ~ at the end, "bubba wallace is the best race car driver.~" is easily read as, "bubba wallace is the best race card driver." brrr, can you feel the cold sting of sarcasm? now many of you will say, "it's not officially recognized". well, neither was stupid LOL, but that never stopped every 12 year old girl and guys that want to be 12 year old girls, from using it to death. as a result, LOL is now in some dictionaries. if the ~ gets used enough, it will become officially recognized too. it's easy to stick a ~ to the end of your sarcastic comment. it's found on every keyboard and in the symbol menu on every device. sarcasting has never been easier! join me on the vanguard of clearly communicating text based sarcastic smartassery. thank you and i appreciate your continued patronage.~ |