Re: Differences in `ne` and `bp` line-breaking behavior

[onf]

On Tue Dec 3, 2024 at 3:12 PM CET, Douglas McIlroy wrote:
> >> I invented .ne 55 years ago and have never heard a complaint about its
> >> design before. It is not a conditional .bp, because that would case a
> >> line break, which .ne never does, nor should.
>
> > I know it does not behave like a conditional `bp` (that was my
> > entire argument, after all). I have yet to see any explanation
> > of the rationale behind that behavior, though.
>
> Ah, it seems you missed one intended use of .ne: to forestall widows.
> Such a .ne will appear in the middle of a paragraph, possibly even in
> the middle of a sentence. If it caused a line break, it would create a
> false paragraph.
>
> Doug

I see, that's interesting. I have indeed never heard about such
a use case. I assume it is meant only for manual use, though?
Or is there a way of using `ne` to prevent widows automatically?
So far I haven't found a simple way of doing that.

~ onf