Sysadmin summoned to explain italics – to a user with at least two degrees

In another installment of The Register's On Call column, we meet "Darwin," a sysadmin at a prestigious Wall Street law firm. Darwin was updating a PC when a secretary from a lawyer's office urgently called him, citing the lawyer's need for assistance with Outlook. Initially, Darwin expected an email issue, but when the lawyer insisted on his immediate presence, Darwin obliged.

Upon arriving at the lawyer's office, Darwin was met with puzzlement. The legal professional explained that he noticed all the letters in his documents were slanted, referring to them as italics. Darwin promptly clarified that italics are a formatting option, but the lawyer's reaction was far from understanding. Instead, he became visibly agitated and demanded to know how such formatting could have occurred.

Darwin found the lawyer's behavior rather peculiar, given his impressive credentials. The lawyer had earned degrees from an Ivy League university and held both a law and business degree – a combination that typically signifies intelligence and worldly knowledge. After giving the lawyer a quick lesson on the italics icon, Darwin observed his secretary hiding her laughter as she attempted to compose herself after the encounter.