[OS X TeX] Scandinavian {\aa} ??

[Martin Costabel]

Bruce Kellogg wrote:
> It is strange: when I process the file
> 
> \documentclass[10pt,oneside,leqno]{article}
> \def \r{\rho}
> \begin{document}
> G{\aa}rding
>  \end{document}
> 
> I get an error message, and if I type "q" in the dialog box, I get a 
> misspelt Garding with
> a Greek rho inserted. On the other hand, when I process the file
> 
> \documentclass[10pt,oneside,leqno]{article}
> %\def \r{\rho}
> \begin{document}
> G{\aa}rding
>  \end{document}
> 
> there is no error message and I get what I expect.

I guess this is an example for why they recommend to use \newcommand in 
latex instead of \def. With \newcommand you would have got an error 
message telling you

! LaTeX Error: Command \r already defined.

Indeed, in latex.ltx you can find the line

\def \aa {\r a}

-- 
Martin