[O] How to disable description lists?

[Markus Berlin]

Hello everybody,

is there a simple way to disable the description list syntax in a
document?  That is, how can I prevent emacs from interpreting '::' as
a description list separator (in a given document)?

The background is that I often use '::' or '::=' in my text
(e.g. talking about types in Haskell or using BNF notation). It is
only a minor issue, but I would very much prefer emacs not
mis-interpreting and highlighting the left hand sides as description
headings.


Thanks,
Markus