Italics

    I'm trying to figure out how to write around italics under circumstances (Facebook especially) where they aren't available. ALL-CAPS are obnoxious at best, but convey emphasis better than any other option I can think of. I know perfectly well that folks use underscores _before_ and _after_ the word to be stressed, but that goes back to the days when nearly all Internet interaction was text only with boldface and italics a distant dream. I'm not sure anyone even remembers that usage these days.
    What I've been trying to do is rearrange my sentences so that the stresses will fall such that the word I want especially emphasized will naturally receive its due stress. It's really tough, maybe impossible, and probably above my pay grade. I don't think I'll _ever_ get it right! But it's fun to try. Also, I finally learned that you don't capitalize the I in "italics." I mean the FIRST one. At least not with regard to the typeface.