Talk:Pilcrow/Archive 1

title
Why are we calling this article ‘Pilcrow’? The term is (according to the OED) archaic, and pretty obscure too. Why not just have it under Paragraph sign? Widsith 08:59, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

Pilcrow is the proper name for the character or glyph, whereas "Paragraph sign" is a description of its function. However, you do have a point that the section "Paragraph signs in foreign languages" isn't really dealing with the Pilcrow character. --kidbritish 00:19, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Use of double pilcrow to indicate multiple paragraphs
I'm not confident enough to add this to the page, but is the pilcrow not used in a duplicated form (¶¶) to indicate a multiple number of paragraphs, in the same way the Section sign is? The article does not seem to mention this. Jameshfisher 12:06, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

MS Word
We can mention that annoying feature on MS word that causes stuff to look like this:

The-Quick-Brown-Fox-Jumped-Over-The-Lazy-Dog¶

Where - is a bullet point like dot.-

--Editor510 (talk) 17:07, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

ASCII 20
"¶" too ==

alt-20 under WinXP produces "¶", on my screen it looks exactly like u00B6 "¶", and according to the ASCII table on the help of QBasic ASCII 20 is the pilcrow --TiagoTiago (talk) 22:30, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Use in quotes
In my experience, the pilcrow can also be used to denote paragraph breaks where space is a premium, like quotation marks or magazines (I believe I've seen them in Wired). Perhaps this should be added? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.159.19.254 (talk) 06:10, 9 August 2009 (UTC)

Pronounciation?
Is the "crow" part of pilcrow pronounced as if to rhyme with grow, or to rhyme with how? Thanks, Invertzoo (talk) 17:57, 23 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Dictionary.com gives the former. Why did you think it was pronounced differently? --Cyber cobra (talk) 11:49, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

Paragraph number
"Convention states that the pilcrow sign followed by a number indicates the paragraph number from the top of the page."What happens when a page break is in the middle of a paragraph? On the second page, is paragraph number one the paragraph that continues from the previous page, or is it the first paragraph to begin on this page?Ed Avis (talk) 14:43, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

alinea - off the line?
> alinea (Latin: a lineā, "off the line")

The german version of this article says "aus dem Lateinischen a linea ‚auf der Linie‘." - "on the line".

Which one is correct? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.84.217.84 (talk) 12:58, 4 January 2012 (UTC) Knowing Latin, "off the line". Not knowing German, Google translate makes "auf der Linie" into "on the line" but makes "off the line" back into "auf der Linie". So I'd stick with "off the line".--Richardson mcphillips (talk) 16:59, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

Modern Use
"In legal writing, it is used whenever one must cite a specific paragraph within pleadings, law review articles, statutes, or other legal documents and materials." This is a regional thing: is it US-specific? I do not believe it is a universal requirement throughout the English-speaking world: it is archaic in Australia AFAIK for example Rick Jelliffe — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.6.205.11 (talk) 07:48, 2 May 2015 (UTC)

Need to clarify opening
The first sentence (or at least text very near it) should mention other aspects given in the Modern Usage section (particularly where the symbol is used to indicate end of paragraph).

203.221.122.109 (talk) 06:57, 15 August 2022 (UTC)


 * ✅. Thank you for contributing. --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 08:14, 15 August 2022 (UTC)

Definition
"The pilcrow, ¶, is a typographical character that marks the start of a paragraph": It is not just a typographical character. As shown in one of the photos that accompany the article, pilcrow was also used in MSS. -- Henryfunk.


 * Fair point. I will change to "... a handwritten or typographical character ...". If anyone wants to improve on that, feel free. GrindtXX (talk) 23:48, 14 November 2022 (UTC)
 * You beat me to the draw! . --𝕁𝕄𝔽 (talk) 00:12, 15 November 2022 (UTC)