wtf github, you can't escape special characters in markdown readmes?

Readme.md

@@ -13,9 +13,9 @@ Major Changes from Open Library Revision
 
 * Extended showdown to support a series of Markdown extensions:
   - Link urls that start with ! are opened in a new window
-  - Text wrapped with double carets is made superscript (ex: \^\^this text is superscripted\^\^)
-  - Text wrapped with double commas is made subscript (ex: ,,this text is subscripted,,)
-  - Text wrapped with double tildes is made strikethrough (ex: ~~this text is struck~~)
+  - Text wrapped with double carets is made superscript (ex: `^^this text is superscripted^^`)
+  - Text wrapped with double commas is made subscript (ex: `,,this text is subscripted,,`)
+  - Text wrapped with double tildes is made strikethrough (ex: `~~this text is struck~~`)
   - (c), (r), (tm), -- and ... are converted into their respective html entities.
   - Lines prefixed with "->" are right aligned.  Lines also postfixed with "<-" are center aligned.
 * Several ascii characters that may produce encoding issues (such as curled quotes) are converted into entities