I've seen that the ampersand gets interpreted as HTML on the mailing list. I'm sending the example as an attachment. Here's a modified version to be seen on the mailing list site: \startbuffer[test] <text> <!-- with following semicolon: ampersand and semicolon are eaten --> <p>Me & my friends; you & your friends.</p> <!-- without following semicolon: everything ok --> <p>Me & my friends. You & your friends.</p> <!-- way around: place a comment after the ampersand --> <p>Me &<!-- --> my friends; you & your friends.</p> </text> \stopbuffer \startxmlsetups xml:somesetups \xmlsetsetup{#1}{text}{xml:text} \xmlsetsetup{#1}{p}{xml:p} \stopxmlsetups \xmlregistersetup{xml:somesetups} \startxmlsetups xml:text \xmlflush{#1} \stopxmlsetups \startxmlsetups xml:p \xmlflush{#1}\par\blank[line] \stopxmlsetups \starttext \xmlprocessbuffer{main}{test}{} \stoptext