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Kelmon

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 28, 2005
725
0
United Kingdom
My wife and I had a bit of a heated debate this morning regarding the merits (or lack thereof) of Fujitsu's recently announced Happy Hacking Keyboard Lite 2 where the Caps Lock key has been removed. As part of this discussion (where, for anyone who cares, I was happy to see the key removed whereas she wasn't) we ended up thinking about which keys on a keyboard we don't use and therein lies the crux of this thread. On an Apple standard keyboard, just beneath the Escape key, is a key that I have NEVER used and for which I don't know what it represents. The key produces the symbol § - does anyone know what the heck this is and what it is used for?

Incidentally, I do know that a debate about the merits of a Caps Lock key is very sad. I have to live with this knowledge...
 

Richard Flynn

macrumors regular
Sep 4, 2006
162
0
Sydney
It is the shorthand for a 'section' within a document, when you are making a specific reference. So, I could refer to Maurice Grevisse, Le Bon Usage (13th ed.: Louvain-la-Neuve, 1993), § 581, which is a specific reference to a paragraph about the use of ordinal-numeral adjectives in French (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.). At a pinch you can use the § symbol to denote a reference to a chapter, but generally it would be better advised to write 'Chapter x' or 'Ch. x' because strictly § refers to a paragraph. Helpful symbol, although probably not used as much as most of the other keys on the keyboard.
 

emptyCup

macrumors 65816
Jan 5, 2005
1,482
1
strictly § refers to a paragraph. Helpful symbol, although probably not used as much as most of the other keys on the keyboard.

The @ was the least used key on a typewriter until the invention of email. Who knows what happy future the § may have.
 

Makosuke

macrumors 604
Aug 15, 2001
6,661
1,242
The Cool Part of CA, USA
On an Apple standard keyboard, just beneath the Escape key, is a key that I have NEVER used and for which I don't know what it represents. The key produces the symbol § - does anyone know what the heck this is and what it is used for?
Wait, what? I take it you aren't using a US-standard keyboard, because the key under escape on any Apple US keyboard has the tilde (~) symbol, which I at least use all the time in math and such to mean "about" as well as to refer to home folders in Unix, and also the backtic (or whatever the "backwards" apostrophe is called) which I've never used but I assume is involved in some languages with accented characters or something.

Personally, I'd put the tilde as the straight key and have the backtick as the shift version, since at least in US use, the tilde is WAY more commonly used.

On US keyboards, the section character is typed with option-6.
 

GoCubsGo

macrumors Nehalem
Feb 19, 2005
35,741
153
It is typically something that would reference a section of a larger document. You'll see it alot when reading about laws and such. Section/Sub Section.
 

Veritas&Equitas

macrumors 68000
Oct 31, 2005
1,528
1
Twin Cities, MN
LOL! Dear God, being enslaved to the wonders that are law school, once I saw the symbol as the thread title...I just laughed...I see that section symbol in my sleep...
 

mkrishnan

Moderator emeritus
Jan 9, 2004
29,776
15
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Wait, what?

I'd guess his location in Belgium would contraindicate the "using a standard US keyboard" part. ;)

I'm surprised, though, that you don't use it in your languages any more than we do, and yet you've got it on your keyboards. Do other keyboards sold in Belgium typically have the section marker on them? The Apple US keyboard doesn't really have any printed key caps that d not also typically appear on non-Apple keyboards in the US, with the obvious exception of the modifier keys.
 

Kelmon

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 28, 2005
725
0
United Kingdom
I'd guess his location in Belgium would contraindicate the "using a standard US keyboard" part. ;)

I'm surprised, though, that you don't use it in your languages any more than we do, and yet you've got it on your keyboards. Do other keyboards sold in Belgium typically have the section marker on them? The Apple US keyboard doesn't really have any printed key caps that d not also typically appear on non-Apple keyboards in the US, with the obvious exception of the modifier keys.

I probably should note that I'm a British national living as an ex-pat in Belgium so my keyboard is a standard British one rather than either a US standard one or those god forsaken Azerty keyboards the continental use over here (*shudder*).
 
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