diff --git a/gio/gapplication.c b/gio/gapplication.c
index 1309ef0d4..08b24ab15 100644
--- a/gio/gapplication.c
+++ b/gio/gapplication.c
@@ -55,24 +55,23 @@
  * this class outside of a higher level framework.
  *
  * GApplication provides convenient life cycle management by maintaining
- * a <firstterm>use count</firstterm> for the primary application instance.
- * The use count can be changed using g_application_hold() and
- * g_application_release(). If it drops to zero, the application exits.
- * Higher-level classes such as #GtkApplication employ the use count to
- * ensure that the application stays alive as long as it has any opened
- * windows.
+ * a "use count" for the primary application instance. The use count can
+ * be changed using g_application_hold() and g_application_release(). If
+ * it drops to zero, the application exits. Higher-level classes such as
+ * #GtkApplication employ the use count to ensure that the application
+ * stays alive as long as it has any opened windows.
  *
  * Another feature that GApplication (optionally) provides is process
- * uniqueness.  Applications can make use of this functionality by
- * providing a unique application ID.  If given, only one application
- * with this ID can be running at a time per session.  The session
+ * uniqueness. Applications can make use of this functionality by
+ * providing a unique application ID. If given, only one application
+ * with this ID can be running at a time per session. The session
  * concept is platform-dependent, but corresponds roughly to a graphical
- * desktop login.  When your application is launched again, its
+ * desktop login. When your application is launched again, its
  * arguments are passed through platform communication to the already
- * running program.  The already running instance of the program is
- * called the <firstterm>primary instance</firstterm>; for non-unique
- * applications this is the always the current instance.
- * On Linux, the D-Bus session bus is used for communication.
+ * running program. The already running instance of the program is
+ * called the "primary instance"; for non-unique applications this is
+ * the always the current instance. On Linux, the D-Bus session bus
+ * is used for communication.
  *
  * The use of #GApplication differs from some other commonly-used
  * uniqueness libraries (such as libunique) in important ways. The
@@ -128,14 +127,14 @@
  * The #GApplication::startup signal lets you handle the application
  * initialization for all of these in a single place.
  *
- * Regardless of which of these entry points is used to start the application,
- * GApplication passes some <firstterm id="platform-data">platform
- * data</firstterm> from the launching instance to the primary instance,
- * in the form of a #GVariant dictionary mapping strings to variants.
- * To use platform data, override the @before_emit or @after_emit virtual
- * functions in your #GApplication subclass. When dealing with
- * #GApplicationCommandLine objects, the platform data is directly
- * available via g_application_command_line_get_cwd(),
+ * Regardless of which of these entry points is used to start the
+ * application, GApplication passes some "platform data from the
+ * launching instance to the primary instance, in the form of a
+ * #GVariant dictionary mapping strings to variants. To use platform
+ * data, override the @before_emit or @after_emit virtual functions
+ * in your #GApplication subclass. When dealing with
+ * #GApplicationCommandLine objects, the platform data is
+ * directly available via g_application_command_line_get_cwd(),
  * g_application_command_line_get_environ() and
  * g_application_command_line_get_platform_data().
  *
diff --git a/glib/gkeyfile.c b/glib/gkeyfile.c
index 653ac9832..671342763 100644
--- a/glib/gkeyfile.c
+++ b/glib/gkeyfile.c
@@ -74,9 +74,8 @@
  * @short_description: parses .ini-like config files
  *
  * #GKeyFile lets you parse, edit or create files containing groups of
- * key-value pairs, which we call <firstterm>key files</firstterm> for
- * lack of a better name. Several freedesktop.org specifications use
- * key files now, e.g the
+ * key-value pairs, which we call "key files" for lack of a better name.
+ * Several freedesktop.org specifications use key files now, e.g the
  * [Desktop Entry Specification](http://freedesktop.org/Standards/desktop-entry-spec)
  * and the
  * [Icon Theme Specification](http://freedesktop.org/Standards/icon-theme-spec).
diff --git a/glib/gmain.c b/glib/gmain.c
index 2ed34b927..d2c5c4d38 100644
--- a/glib/gmain.c
+++ b/glib/gmain.c
@@ -142,11 +142,11 @@
  * is that new types of event source can be created and used in
  * addition to the builtin type of event source. A new event source
  * type is used for handling GDK events. A new source type is created
- * by <firstterm>deriving</firstterm> from the #GSource structure.
- * The derived type of source is represented by a structure that has
- * the #GSource structure as a first element, and other elements specific
- * to the new source type. To create an instance of the new source type,
- * call g_source_new() passing in the size of the derived structure and
+ * by "deriving" from the #GSource structure. The derived type of
+ * source is represented by a structure that has the #GSource structure
+ * as a first element, and other elements specific to the new source
+ * type. To create an instance of the new source type, call
+ * g_source_new() passing in the size of the derived structure and
  * a table of functions. These #GSourceFuncs determine the behavior of
  * the new source type.
  *
diff --git a/glib/gsequence.c b/glib/gsequence.c
index afa475b85..a4d9790a8 100644
--- a/glib/gsequence.c
+++ b/glib/gsequence.c
@@ -36,12 +36,11 @@
  * linkend="glib-Type-Conversion-Macros">Type Conversion Macros</link>,
  * or simply pointers to any type of data.
  *
- * A #GSequence is accessed through <firstterm>iterators</firstterm>,
- * represented by a #GSequenceIter. An iterator represents a position
- * between two elements of the sequence. For example, the
- * <firstterm>begin</firstterm> iterator represents the gap immediately
- * before the first element of the sequence, and the
- * <firstterm>end</firstterm> iterator represents the gap immediately
+ * A #GSequence is accessed through "iterators", represented by a
+ * #GSequenceIter. An iterator represents a position between two
+ * elements of the sequence. For example, the "begin" iterator
+ * represents the gap immediately before the first element of the
+ * sequence, and the "end" iterator represents the gap immediately
  * after the last element. In an empty sequence, the begin and end
  * iterators are the same.
  *
@@ -54,7 +53,7 @@
  *
  * The function g_sequence_get() is used with an iterator to access the
  * element immediately following the gap that the iterator represents.
- * The iterator is said to <firstterm>point</firstterm> to that element.
+ * The iterator is said to "point" to that element.
  *
  * Iterators are stable across most operations on a #GSequence. For
  * example an iterator pointing to some element of a sequence will
diff --git a/glib/guniprop.c b/glib/guniprop.c
index 548d4da68..fab9b756a 100644
--- a/glib/guniprop.c
+++ b/glib/guniprop.c
@@ -1234,10 +1234,10 @@ g_utf8_casefold (const gchar *str,
  * @ch: a Unicode character
  * @mirrored_ch: location to store the mirrored character
  * 
- * In Unicode, some characters are <firstterm>mirrored</firstterm>. This
- * means that their images are mirrored horizontally in text that is laid
- * out from right to left. For instance, "(" would become its mirror image,
- * ")", in right-to-left text.
+ * In Unicode, some characters are "mirrored". This means that their
+ * images are mirrored horizontally in text that is laid out from right
+ * to left. For instance, "(" would become its mirror image, ")", in
+ * right-to-left text.
  *
  * If @ch has the Unicode mirrored property and there is another unicode
  * character that typically has a glyph that is the mirror image of @ch's
diff --git a/gobject/gclosure.c b/gobject/gclosure.c
index fa1c1a9aa..cc0550052 100644
--- a/gobject/gclosure.c
+++ b/gobject/gclosure.c
@@ -601,13 +601,13 @@ g_closure_unref (GClosure *closure)
  *           still being held
  *
  * Takes over the initial ownership of a closure.  Each closure is
- * initially created in a <firstterm>floating</firstterm> state, which
- * means that the initial reference count is not owned by any caller.
- * g_closure_sink() checks to see if the object is still floating, and
- * if so, unsets the floating state and decreases the reference
- * count. If the closure is not floating, g_closure_sink() does
- * nothing. The reason for the existence of the floating state is to
- * prevent cumbersome code sequences like:
+ * initially created in a "floating" state, which means that the initial
+ * reference count is not owned by any caller. g_closure_sink() checks
+ * to see if the object is still floating, and if so, unsets the
+ * floating state and decreases the reference count. If the closure
+ * is not floating, g_closure_sink() does nothing. The reason for the
+ * existence of the floating state is to prevent cumbersome code
+ * sequences like:
  * |[<!-- language="C" --> 
  * closure = g_cclosure_new (cb_func, cb_data);
  * g_source_set_closure (source, closure);
diff --git a/gobject/gobject.c b/gobject/gobject.c
index 1da69797c..d7002665a 100644
--- a/gobject/gobject.c
+++ b/gobject/gobject.c
@@ -49,10 +49,10 @@
  * <para id="floating-ref">
  * GInitiallyUnowned is derived from GObject. The only difference between
  * the two is that the initial reference of a GInitiallyUnowned is flagged
- * as a <firstterm>floating</firstterm> reference.
- * This means that it is not specifically claimed to be "owned" by
- * any code portion. The main motivation for providing floating references is
- * C convenience. In particular, it allows code to be written as:
+ * as a "floating" reference. This means that it is not specifically
+ * claimed to be "owned" by any code portion. The main motivation for
+ * providing floating references is C convenience. In particular, it
+ * allows code to be written as:
  * |[<!-- language="C" --> 
  * container = create_container ();
  * container_add_child (container, create_child());
@@ -809,11 +809,11 @@ g_object_interface_find_property (gpointer      g_iface,
  * @name: the name of a property registered in a parent class or
  *  in an interface of this class.
  *
- * Registers @property_id as referring to a property with the
- * name @name in a parent class or in an interface implemented
- * by @oclass. This allows this class to <firstterm>override</firstterm>
- * a property implementation in a parent class or to provide
- * the implementation of a property from an interface.
+ * Registers @property_id as referring to a property with the name
+ * @name in a parent class or in an interface implemented by @oclass.
+ * This allows this class to "override" a property implementation in
+ * a parent class or to provide the implementation of a property from
+ * an interface.
  *
  * Internally, overriding is implemented by creating a property of type
  * #GParamSpecOverride; generally operations that query the properties of
@@ -2858,8 +2858,8 @@ toggle_refs_notify (GObject *object,
  * to the proxy object, but when there are other references held to
  * @object, a strong reference is held. The @notify callback is called
  * when the reference from @object to the proxy object should be
- * <firstterm>toggled</firstterm> from strong to weak (@is_last_ref
- * true) or weak to strong (@is_last_ref false).
+ * "toggled" from strong to weak (@is_last_ref true) or weak to strong
+ * (@is_last_ref false).
  *
  * Since a (normal) reference must be held to the object before
  * calling g_object_add_toggle_ref(), the initial state of the reverse