Re: [Mildly OT] Italicized letters in a series

[Kieren MacMillan]

Hi, Trevor:

> If you have text such as "Certain letters -- f, g, t, etc. -- exhibit
> characteristic extenders ...", it seems right to italicize the  
> letters.
> Do you then also italicize the intervening commas,
> or leave the commas in an upright face?

5.3.2 in Robert Bringhurst's amazing "The Elements of Typographic  
Style" says:
     Use upright (i.e., "roman") rather than sloped parentheses,  
square brackets and braces, even if the context is italic.

I couldn't find anything specific to punctuation, but looking at his  
text tends to confirm my intutition:

5.3.2 (addendum by KM):
    If the context is italic, use italic punctuation (except as  
given by 5.3.2).
    For setting off italic elements within a roman context, use  
upright (i.e., "roman") punctuation, and kern accordingly.

Hope this helps!
Kieren.