Re: Question about "do"

Mark J. Reed wrote:

> Not true.  That may be informal usage, but according to every
> instructor and reference I have (had), Spanish "tilde" refers
> exclusively to the '~' sign; it is, in fact, the source of the
> English word "tilde" for the same symbol.  The mark over vowels to
> indicate unusual emphasis (or the marked element of a homophonic
> pair) as in <acá, él, aquí, ó, último> is called a "(signo)
> acento" = "accent (mark)".  When there is a need to distinguish
> it from an accent mark pointing the other way (not used in Spanish
> but discussed in Spanish when talking about other languages), it's
> more specifically a "(signo) acento agudo" = "acute accent (mark),
> although I don't know the Spanish term for its opposite
> ("grave accent").
This might be prescribed grammar but this is not the normal way we call
things.  (Teachers are supposed to teach the prescribed grammar, usually).

BTW, "signo acento" sounds weird to me.  Just "acento" or "acento
explícito".

If you ask a native Spanish speaker how {´} is called, would say either
"tilde" or "acento" (and I would bet that tilde will stadistically win).  If
you ask what a tilde is they would say {´}, rathern than {~}.  If you ask
how they call {~} you would get any number of different answers:
"culebrita", "cuchiflito", "rayita", "la culebrita/rayita/cosita de la eñe",
"el cuchuflito/garabato/cosito de la eñe", etc. probably a few people will
say "virgüililla"/"viegüilita" and only some Spanish teachers will say
"tilde".

In most literature in Spanish when a name for {~} is addressed, I have seen
"virgüililla" or "virgüilita", which is the term I use when I want to be
precise.

-- Carlos Th

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