Found it. Latest sid should fix me up (knew I should have waited longer):
* Import patch from Ubuntu:
- fix_quote_readline_by_ref.patch, thanks to JuanJo Ciarlante
(Closes: #739835):
+ avoid escaping 1st '~' (LP: #1288314)
here is a bug listing for this bug:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bash/+bug/1288314
Sorry for the noise,
Zenaan