Re: e-mail

[palmer@sfu.ca (Leigh Palmer)]

> > I don't often do that. In the quotation below the punctuation is quite
> > correctly applied in the manner signifying that the use here is of the
> > word *per se* rather than any meaning of the word. Look it up; I'm right
> > this time.
> >
> > Leigh
> So what are those little asterisk thingies? Are they intended to
> convey information that cannot be conveyed by flexible and creative
> use of the written language? It has been a while since I've read
> any Twain but I don't recall him sandwiching words between
> asterisks.

Paul!

I'm surprised that a man of your evident erudition would ask such a
question. A pairs of asterisks is the standard ASCII designation
for *italics*. In this instance they are used quite properly around
words in a foreign language*. I very much prefer them to TeXese.

Leigh

*Cantonese in this case, I think. Or is it some *italic* language?