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My understanding is that a subtitle is expressed with the symbol `〜` in
Japanese like this:

> Main Title ~ Subtitle  
>  Main Title ~Subtitle~

I am not sure about whether there is supposed to be a space on either side of
the `~` symbol, or whether the symbol should be on both sides or one side. Is
there a clear mentioning of this usage?

In other languages I know, colon `:` is used for this purpose, and it looks
very peculiar of Japanese to use this symbol for this purpose. Is this only in
Japanese? How did the usage arise?
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2012-05-27T05:32:51.537
5636
2012-05-28T03:03:38.980
2012-05-27T05:38:23.590
question
punctuation
Subtitle symbol
> I am not sure about whether there is supposed to be a space on either side
> of the ~ symbol, or whether the symbol should be on both sides or one side.
> Is there a clear mentioning of this usage?

It depends on the style guide. However, most style guides I have found
recommend putting the symbol with no spaces on either just the front or both
sides.

> In other languages I know, colon : is used for this purpose, and it looks
> very peculiar of Japanese to use this symbol for this purpose. Is this only
> in Japanese? How did the usage arise?

It probably is only used in Japanese (however, I cannot vouch for all
languages). I believe what you are seeing is the corrupt form of the
[２倍ダッシ(ダッシュ)](http://www.fukapon.com/showcase/misc/font2xdash.html). I think
that the `〜` symbol should not be used in more formal writing. As for the
origin, the
[国語審議会](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9B%BD%E8%AA%9E%E5%AF%A9%E8%AD%B0%E4%BC%9A)
is responsible for deciding the usage of punctuation in Japan (or at least the
basis for all punctuation). Please refer to
[くぎり符号の使ひ方](http://www.bunka.go.jp/kokugo_nihongo/joho/kijun/sanko/index.html)
from 1946 for the origin of the 2倍ダッシュ which was called ナカセン.

Some quotes:

  * > 2倍ダッシュは，副題の前後につける．また，文章中に割り込むかたちで注釈を入れるときに丸カッコ（ ）の代わりに用いてもよい．ただし，―（全角ダッシュ1つ）のかたちでは使用しない．[(reference)](http://www.gakkai.ne.jp/jss/bulletin/guide1.php).

  * > 書名にサブタイトルがあるときは，タイトルとサブタイトルのあいだは，――（2倍ダッシュ）でつなぐ．[(reference)](http://www.kyy.saitama-u.ac.jp/~fukuoka/JSRstyle%284%29.html).
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answer