Two days ago https://norcal.social/@superball asked about generating smart quotes on Linux. I never got to understand what they meant with 'smart quotes', but I answered with a reference to the US intl with dead keys keyboard layout. I have been using it for ages. This allowed me to write proper Spanish with a US layout and it just mimicked my experience when learning to type with a Olivetti Lexicon 80. I knew for a long while that I gloat, yes, gloat, about being able to write 'weird' letters, but it seems like I never really wrote them all. So today I sat down to waste, yes, waste a couple of hours, as in more than two, compiling the following table: glyph | name | letters | key combo ------|----------------|----------------------------------------------------------|----------------- \` | grave | ẁèỳùìòàǹm̀ | \` ~ | tilde | ẽỹũĩõãṽñ | `Shift+` ˝ | double grave | űő | `Alt-Gr+Shift+2` ¯ | macron[^11] | ēȳūīōāḡǖ[^1][^10] | `Alt-Gr+Shift+3` ¸ | cedilla[^2] | ȩŗ[^10][^16]ţşḑģ[^10]ḩķ[^10][^16]ļ[^10][^16]çņ[^10][^16] | `Alt-Gr+Shift+5` ^ | circumflex | ŵêŷûîîôâŝĝĥĵẑĉ | `Shift+6` ̛[^4] | horn | ơ | `Alt-Gr+Shift+7` ˛ | ogonek | ęųįǫą | `Alt-Gr+Shift+8` ˘ | breve[^11] | ĕŭĭŏăğ | `Alt-Gr+Shift+9` ° | overring | ẘẙůå[^9] | `Alt-Gr+Shift+0` ̣ ̣[^5] | underdot | ẉẹṭỵụịọạṣḍḥḳḷẓṿḅṇṃ | `Alt-Gr+Shift+-` ´ | acute | ẃéŕýúíóṕáśǵj́ḱĺźćǘ[^1][^10]ńḿ | `'` ¨ | 'two dots'[^6] | ẅëẗÿüïöäḧẍ | `Shift+'` ˙ | overdot | å[^7][^9][^10]é[^10]ṙṫẏı[^12]ȯṗȧṡḋḟġḣȷ[^12]ŀ[^13]żẋċḃṅṁ | `Alt-Gr+.` ˇ | caron | ěřť[^10]ǔǐǒǎšď[^10]ǧȟǰǩľ[^10]žčǔň | `Alt-Gr+Shift+.` [^15] | [^14] | ʠⱳẻɼƭỷủỉỏƥảʂɗƒɠɦƙȥƈʋɓɲɱ | `Alt-Gr+Shift+/` The biggest surprises about it are: * Overdot is the most ~~used~~ writable diacritic, even when 5 of the letters use a different diacritic. * Underdot and caron get more than I expected. * Only one letter with horn? Was it worth it? Maybe I don't know how to use it? * Ogonoek is the best diacritic name. A shame is so underused :) * If it wasn't for the overdot, `x` would be the single letter that can't be combined. * Best symbol? I'm partial to `ř` because it's used to represent a Czech sound that is also present in the West North West part of my country, one ocean and one Equator apart. See [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDpVPj49R8w](a Brittish linguist) and, wow, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cZSKnfeigI](a Cordobese comedian). * But also `ẋ` and `ơ` for their different uniqueness. Let me tell you about that last video. The guy is from Córdoba, from Cruz del Eje, so he has a mix of Cordobese accent but the ř sound from Traslasierra ('behind the mountains', referencing the Sierras Grandes) and La Rioja. Riojan people have another accent. [https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/153536?mlat=-30.7336&mlon=-64.7943#map=8/-30.188/-66.621](La Rioja province highlighted and a pin on Cruz del Eje). Of course, these are not all diacritics (see [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacritic](diacritics on the Wikipedia)), and probably not all the possible combinations. Not to mention that they can be accumulated; see both glyphs noted with [^1], but also [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zalgo_text](Zalgo text). Finally, diacritics are not the only thing you can write with this layout. These symbols are also writable without combining: ¡¹²³¤£€¼½¾‘’¥×÷ äåé®™þüúíóö«» áßðëïœø¶° æ·©¢ñµ±ç¿ and `^` combined with digits writes them superscripted: ¹²³⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸⁹⁰ Definitely a very versatile layout. If you want to fully explore your keyboard layout, install `tastenbrett`[^18] and take a look. Ah! And smart quotes are not actual glyphs but a feature (I completely forgot about it because I always deactivate them): [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Quotation_marks_in_English#Smart_quotes](Smart quotes on the Wikipedia). [^1]: With `v`. [^2]: I can't quite see the glyph[^3], so I have to trust Python and `unicodedata.name()`. [^3]: I'm getting old (almost 50!), presbyopia is hitting and these glasses are 1yo. Maybe it's also time I succumb and raise the minimum font size from 8 to 10. [^4]: These ones are weird. At least on my editor they 'glue' to the character on its left and it becomes difficult to deal with. [^5]: While typing these, I had to use `Space` to make them show in their isolated form. Fore this one I had to press it twice. Dunno why. [^6]: Not 'double dots'? This symbol is _used_ for both diaeresis (diæresis?) and umlauts[^8]. [^7]: With `w`. [^8]: How come all these names don't have themselves in it?!?! "Ümlaut", there, I fixed it for you :) [^9]: According to my editor and Python, these are both `LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH RING ABOVE`. [^10]: Notice how the diacritic applied is different to the one you're supposed to be pressing. [^11]: Can't help myself; I pronounce these in French :) [^12]: Notice that the diacritic is an overdot, but these letters 'naturally' have dots in them, so it _removes_ it. [^13]: Not sure if you see the same as me; I see a dot to the _right_ of the `l` glyph. If this is the canonical representation, in some ways [^10] applies. [^14]: This modifier changes the letters in many different ways, and the result not always looks like an actual diacritic, but I included it for completeness. [^15]: It doesn't show at all; maybe because of [^14]? [^16]: These actually get an undercomma. [^17] [^17]: I have the impression that this post has more footnotes than actual text :) [^18]: Literally 'keysboard' in German; 'tasten', keys; 'brett', board.