# Single asterisks in subsequent words should not lead to emphasis

**URL:** <https://talk.commonmark.org/t/single-asterisks-in-subsequent-words-should-not-lead-to-emphasis/1035>\
**Category:** Spec\
**Created:** [January 29, 2015, 1:35pm UTC](https://talk.commonmark.org/t/single-asterisks-in-subsequent-words-should-not-lead-to-emphasis/1035 "2015-01-29T13:35:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://cdn.commonmark.org/user_avatar/talk.commonmark.org/codinghorror/32/2_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://talk.commonmark.org/u/codinghorror)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2020, 5:38pm UTC](https://talk.commonmark.org/t/single-asterisks-in-subsequent-words-should-not-lead-to-emphasis/1035/21 "2020-06-28T17:38:03Z")

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> [@Zezombye](#):
>
> But in emails, if a human sees `A*B*C` , he would parse it as a multiplication and not italics. Markdown parsers should therefore not parse that as italics, in order to be more intuitive.

The asterisks and intra-word emphasis issue is definitely frustrating. That said, I would posit that

`A×B×C`

is better formatting in our unicode-everywhere (or even UTF-8 everywhere) world?

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**Author:** ![Zezombye](https://cdn.commonmark.org/user_avatar/talk.commonmark.org/zezombye/32/1955_2.png) [@Zezombye](https://talk.commonmark.org/u/Zezombye)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2020, 5:01am UTC](https://talk.commonmark.org/t/single-asterisks-in-subsequent-words-should-not-lead-to-emphasis/1035/22 "2020-07-03T05:01:04Z")

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Sadly, many keyboards do not offer the option to enter the “×” character (unless you learn by heart the alt-code). The asterisk is going to be used in the huge majority of cases.

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**Author:** ![Crissov](https://cdn.commonmark.org/user_avatar/talk.commonmark.org/crissov/32/1455_2.png) [@Crissov](https://talk.commonmark.org/u/Crissov)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2020, 5:22am UTC](https://talk.commonmark.org/t/single-asterisks-in-subsequent-words-should-not-lead-to-emphasis/1035/23 "2020-07-03T05:22:43Z")

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FWIW, many phones have `×` available under a long-press `*` and on Windows 10 you find it easily in the pop-up that appears when you hit Windows key plus dot `.`, which is primarily used for emoji input.

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**Author:** ![Zezombye](https://cdn.commonmark.org/user_avatar/talk.commonmark.org/zezombye/32/1955_2.png) [@Zezombye](https://talk.commonmark.org/u/Zezombye)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2020, 8:17am UTC](https://talk.commonmark.org/t/single-asterisks-in-subsequent-words-should-not-lead-to-emphasis/1035/24 "2020-07-05T08:17:50Z")

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Indeed. However it is hidden away and users do not use it; even though most people are on phones, I never saw anyone use the “×” character.

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