groff_char(7): improve description of ASCII chars

Improve description of ASCII characters that do not render as
themselves.

See https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?50898

2 files changed, 30 insertions, 10 deletions

diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 041a7f76e..ba059c82d 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+2017-04-29  Ingo Schwarze  <schwarze@usta.de>
+
+	groff_char(7): improve description of ASCII characters
+
+	* man/groff_char.7.man: improve description of ASCII
+	characters that do not render as themselves
+
+	See https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?50898
+
 2017-04-28  Osamu Sayama
 
 	lkbib with empty file dumps core
diff --git a/man/groff_char.7.man b/man/groff_char.7.man
index 1869f951b..e38c70b94 100644
--- a/man/groff_char.7.man
+++ b/man/groff_char.7.man
@@ -254,35 +254,46 @@ themselves; the only exceptions are the following characters:
 .TP
 .B \`
 the ISO \%latin1 \[oq]Grave Accent\[cq] (code\ 96) prints as \[oq], a
-left single quotation mark; the original character can be obtained
-with \[oq]\f(CW\e`\fP\[cq].
+left single quotation mark (Unicode u2018).
+The same output glyph can be requested explicitly
+with \[oq]\f(CW\e(oq\fP\[cq].
+The original character can be obtained
+with \[oq]\f(CW\e`\fP\[cq] (Unicode u0060).
 .
 .
 .TP
 .B \*(aq
-the ISO \%latin1 \[oq]Apostrophe\[cq] (code\ 39) prints as ', a right
-single quotation mark; the original character can be obtained with
-\[oq]\f(CW\e(aq\fP\[cq].
+the ISO \%latin1 \[oq]Apostrophe\[cq] (code\ 39) prints as \[cq],
+a right single quotation mark (Unicode u2019).
+The same output glyph is commonly used in typography to represent
+a punctation apostrophe, for example in contractions.
+It can be requested explicitly with \[oq]\f(CW\e(cq\fP\[cq].
+The original character can be obtained with
+\[oq]\f(CW\e(aq\fP\[cq] (Unicode u0027).
 .
 .
 .TP
 .B -
 the ISO \%latin1 \[oq]Hyphen, Minus Sign\[cq] (code\ 45) prints as a
-hyphen; a minus sign can be obtained with \[oq]\f(CW\e-\fP\[cq].
+hyphen (Unicode u2010).
+The same output glyph can be requested explicitly
+with \[oq]\f(CW\e(hy\fP\[cq].
+A minus sign can be obtained with \[oq]\f(CW\e(mi\fP\[cq] (Unicode u2212).
 .
 .
 .TP
 .B ~
 the ISO \%latin1 \[oq]Tilde\[cq] (code\ 126) is reduced in size to be
-usable as a diacritic; a larger glyph can be obtained with
-\[oq]\f(CW\e(ti\fP\[cq].
+usable as a diacritic (Unicode u02DC).
+A larger glyph can be obtained with
+\[oq]\f(CW\e(ti\fP\[cq] (Unicode u007E).
 .
 .
 .TP
 .B ^
 the ISO \%latin1 \[oq]Circumflex Accent\[cq] (code\ 94) is reduced in
-size to be usable as a diacritic; a larger glyph can be obtained with
-\[oq]\f(CW\e(ha\fP\[cq].
+size to be usable as a diacritic (Unicode u02C6); a larger glyph
+can be obtained with \[oq]\f(CW\e(ha\fP\[cq] (Unicode u005E).
 .
 .
 .P