The following symbols have both been introduced to me as a 'paragraph symbol'. With the help of ShapeCatcher and Wikipedia, I found out that
- ¶ is officially known as the Pilcrow Sign
- § is officially known as the Section Sign
However, I've seen both of them used to indicate what part of a document is referred to. (e.g. § 4.2 refers to the second paragraph in the fourth chapter of a book, but I have also seen ¶ 4.2)
Are both of these uses correct, or not? In what ways are these symbols further used?
Best Answer
Usually, the pilcrow is used to indicate paragraphs, not only when citing them: you can use it to indicate the paragraphs' beginning or end, or to separate them if you are writing them without breaks. It can also be used if you have run out of symbols to indicate footnotes in a given page (the order of footnote symbols is traditionally *, †, ‡, §, |, ¶ in English). The section sign is much more usually employed in citations, and can indicate paragraphs, sections or footnotes. I'd say the use you mention is correct, as long as what the sign is pointing to is clear.
There's a fine text on the pilcrow and its history in Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols and Other Typographical Marks by Keith Houston, a book which, oddly, devotes less than a line to the section mark.