Is it OK to use \tt etc. in latex2e if you don't want the text to inherit the font of the containing text?

Question

I want some words to always be in upright teletype (they are defined to be something specific). If the sentence is emphasised and this word appears I do not want the text to be italic teletype, but remain upright teletype. In this case is it OK to use {\tt word} to achieve this effect or is there some better way?

\emph{A sentence that contains the {\tt word} yet it remains upright teletype.}

Answer 1

\tt is obsolete with LaTeX2e, it's just defined by classes. So, if you use a class that's still supporting it, it would work. But I would not recommend it. Classes like article.cls define for compatibility:

\DeclareOldFontCommand{\tt}{\normalfont\ttfamily}{\mathtt}

I would use \normalfont\ttfamily. Further, I wouldn't use it in the body text but in the preamble, defining a logical markup like \code.