Hello tilde ~

Medieval scribes, while copying and translating books by hand, often used the tilde ~. This denoted when words had been omitted or abbreviated. It helped save precious time, ink and vellum.

In more modern times, the use of the tilde has come to mean “approximately”, “roughly, or “ish”. As in “we’re leaving in ~10 minutes”. Or “this post is ~120 words”.

Collaborating on software projects is hard. These projects are filled with myriad concepts, endless frameworks, mental models, and lots of jargon. Conveying nuance and sharing complex ideas quickly – without collaborators getting hung up – can feel impossible.

Enter the tilde. By adding it to the start of a message, this tiny but powerful character can help convey thoughts quickly and crudely while also saying “like this, but not exactly”.

~You get the idea.

Share this post with your team and give it a try.