This last SimpleQuiz stirred up some great opinions. A few asked when you would ever need to emphasize, embolden and italicize test all at once. But isn't that giving up too easily?

I think Patrick Griffiths comment sums it up nicely. And although "banana" is perhaps no better than "italic", he brings up a good point -- to stray from presentational class names whenever possible.

Just Emphasis

Remember, while <strong> and <em> oftentimes render text in bold and italics respectively, it's not a good idea to rely on this. By default, most browsers will alter text wrapped in these elements -- but if you are merely using <strong> and <em> for presentational purposes, it may be time to rethink using them.

To quote the W3C:

EM

Indicates emphasis.

STRONG

Indicates stronger emphasis.

Notice there is no mention of "bold" or "italics" here -- that is intended to be taken care of with CSS. It's all about emphasis -- giving more priority to text than the rest that surrounds it. Do this first -- then worry about style afterwards.