I am reading this paper. In section 1.1 he says:

What do the tildes above the letters mean? How can I translate these two sentences into ordinary English?
I am reading this paper. In section 1.1 he says:

What do the tildes above the letters mean? How can I translate these two sentences into ordinary English?
The tilde can have a variety of meanings in different contexts, but as is made clear later in the paper, the tilde over the $p$ is being used there to indicate an empirical probability function (rather than a theoretical model/population probability function) - that is, one made from the sample proportions of each of the symbols.
That's consistent with the definition in the section you refer to.