As another general comment on this discussion, I will say that I
agree with David Walbert's observations that it is impossible to to
"de-emphasize" something. However, I believe that what some means
here by de-emphasising something is that they want to *emphasize the
unimportance* of what they're saying. To me, "de-emphasis" is just
another kind of emphasis where you state that the reader doesn't
really need to know that thing but the author want to say it anyway.
Like David, I think the best rendering for "de-emphasis" would be to
use parenthesis, notes, or asides depending on the exact nature of
the content. Frankly, I don't think we need to introduce any new
element for the general case of emphasizing the pointlessness of
something. If an element is introduced however, maybe <pointless>
would be a better name, less abstract and harder to misuse than
anything derived from "de-emphasis".
Michel Fortin
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.michelf.com/
