String removeMnemonics (String string) {
	/* removes single ampersands and preserves double-ampersands */
	char [] chars = new char [string.length ()];
	string.getChars (0, chars.length, chars, 0);
	int i = 0, j = 0;
	for ( ; i < chars.length; i++, j++) {
		if (chars[i] == '&') {
			if (++i == chars.length) break;
			if (chars[i] == '&') {
				chars[j++] = chars[i - 1];
			}
		}
		chars[j] = chars[i];
	}
	if (i == j) return string;
	return new String (chars, 0, j);
}