[Doc-SIG] backslashing

[Edward D. Loper]

David Quoted:
> [I said]
> > Guido has objected to `literal`
> 
> [Guido said]
> > In many fonts, backtick is hard to distinguish from apostrophe!
>
> [response omitted]

That wasn't the objection I was refering to...  I was referring to:

[Guido said]
> I don't like `...`, because (a) it means something very specific in
> Python (and in the Unix shell), (b) it's hard to distinguish from
> '...' in some fonts, and (c) except for the `...` Python and shell
> notation, I expect ` to be closed with '.

(well, I guess part (b) is the same, and I agree that that's not a
real objection.. The only time when you'll be looking at docstrings as
raw text will most likely be either in your code editor or in Python.
And hopefully your font for both those environments distinguishes
apostrophe from backtick, because otherwise you'll have a lot of
trouble coding..)

We might be able to convince Guido to let go of (a) and (c).  I
personally strongly favor using `...` (backticks) over '...'
(apostrophes), since apostrophes are fairly overloaded in natural
language already..

-Edward