Re: [Groff] Typesetting dashes

[James K. Lowden]

On Wed, 20 Nov 2013 14:59:26 -0500
Doug McIlroy <address@hidden> wrote:

> > I can't think of a situation where you would want to mix point sizes
> > on a line.
> 
> A fairly common case is small caps, as in acronyms. Another is mixed 
> fonts (e.g. using Courier for computer literals) with different 
> x-heights for fonts of the same nominal point size.

As it happens, I'm working on a document right now that frequently
mixes point sizes on a line.  The body is in Roman font, and the word
"xterm" is set in Helvetica to distinguish it.  If I don't reduce size
of it by one point, it looks too large against the rest.   

While I'm in the neighborhood, I wonder if commas in numbers get
special treatment?  Reading over my document, the number 34,800 looked
bad; the comma was squished over by the eight.  The effect was
especially noticable when the comma trails a 7.  To correct, 

        .ds xterm \s-1\fH\&xterm\f[]\s+1
        .ds comma \h'-5M',\h'7M'

        38\*[comma]400 bits per second

because 1p was too much.

I tried math mode, too, but it seemed a little spacey.  Other
suggestions?  Or is it just me?  

--jkl