Re: undecipherable (wrong?) text on def* arguments and --

[Karl Berry]

    you are saying is that it is not possible to have --, ---, `` and '' 
    kept as is if the font do not look like a typewriter font?

Essentially, yes.

    Ok, I see.  What is very weird, here, is that @var{} leads to
    typewriter, while it does not in any other context.

Agreed.  Since you brought it up, I think it would better to recomend
@code for this strange case instead of @var, for that reason.  There's
no noticeable difference between the slanted typewriter dash and the
upright typewriter dash.  I'll change the manual.

Thanks,
k