Talk:Section sign

Kalahari Bushmen

I removed this paragraph:

In the written language of the Kalahari Bushmen, the section sign is used to warn of nearby snakes, owing to its striking visual similarity to a pair of snakes intertwined. Snakes in Kalahari culture are associated with strong superstitious beliefs; many believe that simply reading about a snake can be fatal. Accordingly, the section sign can either indicate real snakes, or a written paragraph which mentions them.

It was unsourced, written by an anonymous user who was already warned for vandalism and it looks like nonsense. --Amir E. Aharoni 10:18, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

The Origin

I removed this sentence:

For an effect comparable to the contemporary use of bold type, early scribes would double stroke letters, hence the sign was developed from a double stroked letter S.

Apart from being unsourced, it is only one (and a rather uncommon) of the possible explanations for the origin of the sign. other theories include a double S referring to the latin "signum sectionis", a derivation from the letter C referring to the latin "caput", as well as various combinations of egyptian, greek and roman signs. It is an ongoing debate, and cannot be finally answered at this point. The various explanations can surely be integrated into the article, but preferably in a special section and with citation.

Meaning in Poland

In Poland, this sign means "paragraph," not "section." The Polish penal code, in turn, is organised in paragraphs. Thus, this sign shows up on the covers of books about law and on law enforcement officers' badges.

Description in this stub does not do a good job explaining that.

Yes and no. Indeed in Poland this sign is called "paragraph", but it is used nevertheless as a sign denoting sections. Basic unit in Polish laws is an article, not section (or paragraph). For instance the crime of ordinary homicide is in an article 148 § 1 in criminal code while homicide with the firearm in an article 148 § 2. Only very important laws use § signs (like criminal code, civil code, code of civil/administrative/criminal proceedings etc.) Other laws use so called "ustęps" instead of sections (§). IAAL. Przepla 20:38, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

That's not entirely true. Paragraph is actually used as a basic unit of legal text in government's regulations ("rozporządzenie", "zarządzenie", "uchwała" etc.) which are, by theirs nature, placed hierarchically lower than parliament's acts, either codes and ordinary acts, and as such could be regarded as "less important" (but in fact are the significant part of polish legal system). In the case the prevalent denoting pattern is e.g. "§ 1 ust. 1. ......." (section 1 subsection 1). Moreover, the paragraph sign is also used as an universal sign of independent piece of legal text in all kinds of written contracts, by-laws, organisational regulations and alike. Mroq (talk) 14:55, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

In Germany, Legal Codes are also organised in what is called "Paragraphs" in German. The §-sign is used. However, I can assure you that the widley accepted English translation for the German "Paragraph" is indeed section. I guess, it will be the same for the Polish word for §. 138.253.235.78 (talk) 10:43, 25 June 2010 (UTC)

Also in Slovak, this sign means paragraf, which is correctly translated as section.

The instructions for typing § on MS Windows is incorrect

At least when you are using a Swedish keyboard. Nopedia 14:57, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

Deleted Spore from list

"Many Maxis games, from SimCity 3000 onwards, including The Sims, The Sims Online, The Sims 2 and Spore, use this symbol (with a very round loop) to represent the unit of currency in the SimNation, the simoleon." There is no reference for Spore using Simoleans as any type of currency, in fact it has been suggested that 'evolution/eco points' or something similar will be a 'currency' in said game, I am removing Spore from this list, at least until someone turns up real proof. —Preceding unsigned comment added by KitsuneDragonRA (talk • contribs) 12:43, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Isn't this symbol called the scilicet?

Isn't the "section sign" actually called the scilicet? Calling it a "section sign" or "section symbol" is like calling the ampersand an "and sign," or the interpunct a "middle dot," or the tilda a "squiggly line." Shouldn't this entry be called the scilicet with a redirect from "Section sign"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by CShippee (talk • contribs) 02:57, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

-->I agree, I was taught in law school § was the symbol for scilicet, meaning "to wit", directing a persons attention to a particular section. --Noahsachs (talk) 13:58, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

As I remember from my law school this character is derived from the abbreviation "SS" and in handwriting should be written as two connected "S" one over another. In middle ages it meant something like "it is given", "it is announced". I cannot provide the proper source though (but Viz. seems to corroborate it). Mroq (talk) 15:36, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

Could scilicet be considered a special use of the symbol rather than its generic name? None of the following entries for scilicet mention a symbol or "§" specifically, although they do list the abbreviations "ss." and "sc."

• Merriam-Webster
• Merriam-Webster Word of the Day
• American Heritage

Contrast this with ampersand, which is defined as "a character typically & ..." [emphasis added]. Pslide (talk) 18:10, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

I thought this was called the "stephanus symbol". anyone heard it called that? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.205.102.187 (talk) 07:40, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

No in the USA it is § used for designating a Part like DOT 49 CFR §172.101 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.75.255.201 (talk) 15:22, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Why do I remember the symbol also being known as "hurricane"? (In addition to its other names.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.155.241.230 (talk) 03:37, 4 December 2010 (UTC)