Re Italics.
In the production (typographic) area of several newspapers at which I worked there was posted prominently a sign : "He who would letterspace Italics would steal sheep"
"Letterspacers" are thin slivers of metal used to spread out letter to make a group of words fit evenly in one line of type. The saying started where real metal type that was set on a linotype was used then set into banks of type then locked into a form before going on the press. However the meaning carried over into the process of "offset" where printing is done from a photographic plate. This is more than anyone wants to know about arcane aspects of italic printing, isn't it? And I've totally forgotten the point I set off to make.
SOME-body stop me !!!