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Total tangent, but extremely interested in the use of the Yen/Yuan sign as a footnote marker. Is there some history here I’ve overlooked or is this just arbitra

Total tangent, but extremely interested in the use of the Yen/Yuan sign as a footnote marker. Is there some history here I’ve overlooked or is this just arbitrary?

Tepix 2y ago
Haha - i was looking for ¹, ² or § but couldn‘t find them on my german ipad onscreen keyboard, so i improvised.
- bratwurst3000 2y ago
  you have tp hold a key longer and then there it is. i think it was „s“
  - isametry 2y ago
    Typing this from a German iPad keyboard. It’s the ampersand key (& → §).
    - gcr 2y ago
      oh interesting, using "section" as footnote marker is more alien to me than using yen
- AStonesThrow 2y ago
  I learned BASIC programming on a VIC-20, and I typed in so many "A$, B$, C$", for decades thereafter I pronounced "$" as "string" ("A-string, B-string", etc); it got weird as I discussed Perl scripts with coworkers...
  - amplex1337 2y ago
    Hah, I did this as well but on a TI-99-4A. Stopped a long time ago but yes var$ would have been pronounced var-string, even in context of later gwbasic, qbasic etc.
- quectophoton 2y ago
  I usually do it like this[1], if that helps. [1]: Borrowing syntax from Markdown.
- pbhjpbhj 2y ago
  Interesting that you'd use "Section", "§", as a reference marker. Asterisk (*), and dagger (†) are common reference markers in British English, but not the section sign, aka "silcrow". Is that a common usage /auf Deutsch/? Such use is listed on the Wikipedia page, but it's a use I don't ever recall having seen before.
  - c0balt 2y ago
    It's common in some contexts, in particular ¹/²/... is common for footnotes in handwritten and digital texts. § is a bit less common but iirc used in some legal texts. It's also easy to use on ANSI German keyboards with shift+3.
  - pferde 2y ago
    I'm wary of using the asterisk in internet forums, or really in almost any textual exchange online these days, because everything tries to parse text as markdown, and I am never sure whether or not my asterisks will get eaten. Especially on sites like this one, which have no previews.
    - yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago
      On HN you just escape as \* to avoid it doing italics, but I agree that using characters that uniformly work is sensible
- petabyt 2y ago
  So many memories just flooded my brain of using § for Minecraft Pocket edition...
bewaretheirs 2y ago
I've not seen it used this way before but it is similar enough to the dagger and double-dagger symbols that the intent to use it as a footnote marker is clear.
- deleted 2y ago
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Total tangent, but extremely interested in the use of the Yen/Yuan sign as a footnote marker. Is there some history here I’ve overlooked or is this just arbitrary?

Tepix 2y ago

Haha - i was looking for ¹, ² or § but couldn‘t find them on my german ipad onscreen keyboard, so i improvised.

bratwurst3000 2y ago
you have tp hold a key longer and then there it is. i think it was „s“
- isametry 2y ago
  Typing this from a German iPad keyboard. It’s the ampersand key (& → §).
  - gcr 2y ago
    oh interesting, using "section" as footnote marker is more alien to me than using yen
AStonesThrow 2y ago
I learned BASIC programming on a VIC-20, and I typed in so many "A$, B$, C$", for decades thereafter I pronounced "$" as "string" ("A-string, B-string", etc); it got weird as I discussed Perl scripts with coworkers...
- amplex1337 2y ago
  Hah, I did this as well but on a TI-99-4A. Stopped a long time ago but yes var$ would have been pronounced var-string, even in context of later gwbasic, qbasic etc.
quectophoton 2y ago
I usually do it like this[1], if that helps. [1]: Borrowing syntax from Markdown.
pbhjpbhj 2y ago
Interesting that you'd use "Section", "§", as a reference marker. Asterisk (*), and dagger (†) are common reference markers in British English, but not the section sign, aka "silcrow". Is that a common usage /auf Deutsch/? Such use is listed on the Wikipedia page, but it's a use I don't ever recall having seen before.
- c0balt 2y ago
  It's common in some contexts, in particular ¹/²/... is common for footnotes in handwritten and digital texts. § is a bit less common but iirc used in some legal texts. It's also easy to use on ANSI German keyboards with shift+3.
- pferde 2y ago
  I'm wary of using the asterisk in internet forums, or really in almost any textual exchange online these days, because everything tries to parse text as markdown, and I am never sure whether or not my asterisks will get eaten. Especially on sites like this one, which have no previews.
  - yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago
    On HN you just escape as \* to avoid it doing italics, but I agree that using characters that uniformly work is sensible
petabyt 2y ago
So many memories just flooded my brain of using § for Minecraft Pocket edition...

bewaretheirs 2y ago

I've not seen it used this way before but it is similar enough to the dagger and double-dagger symbols that the intent to use it as a footnote marker is clear.

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