Re: Question about "do"

Mark J. Reed wrote:

> MR = me
> CT = Carlos Thompson
>
> MR> according to every instructor and reference I have (had), Spanish
> MR> "tilde" refers exclusively to the '~' sign.
>
> CT> This might be prescribed grammar but this is not the normal way we
call
> CT> things.
>
> Fair enough.  No soy hispanoparlante nativo. :)
>
> CT> BTW, "signo acento" sounds weird to me.  Just "acento" or "acento
> CT> explícito".
>
> Gracias.  ¿Y cómo se distingüe <'> y <`>?
<`> is not used in Spanish, so it does not have a "common" name.
Technically: a grave accent sign: "signo *de* acento grave", or just "un
grave" or "un acento grave", for example in a lesson on French.

Some common names: "tilde alrevés", "rayita alrevés" or things like those.
A very common computer-related problem I have seen, is that people in Latin
America buy a computer with an LA keyboard layout, and a Spanish version of,
say, Windows.  When you install Windows with default options it asumes the
keyboard has a Spanish layout.  There are a few diferences betwen the LA and
the ES layouts, the most notorious, the Spanish has the grave key where the
LA has the acute.  The result: tons of documents written with graves instead
of acutes.  The fact that people do not care is a result of Spanish not
having a "phonemic" disticntion between acute and grave accent marks.

In handwriting I have seen horizontal strokes (like macrons, but usually
shorter), vertical strokes... very occationally grave slanted strokes, etc.

-- Carlos Th

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