diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 51888ea..a0cd678 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -123,6 +123,11 @@ escape_underscores
   If set to ``False``, do not escape ``_`` to ``\_`` in text.
   Defaults to ``True``.
 
+escape_misc
+  If set to ``False``, do not escape miscellaneous punctuation characters
+  that sometimes have Markdown significance in text.
+  Defaults to ``True``.
+
 keep_inline_images_in
   Images are converted to their alt-text when the images are located inside
   headlines or table cells. If some inline images should be converted to
diff --git a/markdownify/__init__.py b/markdownify/__init__.py
index 86226d2..eaa6ded 100644
--- a/markdownify/__init__.py
+++ b/markdownify/__init__.py
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ def abstract_inline_conversion(markup_fn):
     """
     def implementation(self, el, text, convert_as_inline):
         markup = markup_fn(self)
+        if el.find_parent(['pre', 'code', 'kbd', 'samp']):
+            return text
         prefix, suffix, text = chomp(text)
         if not text:
             return ''
@@ -69,6 +71,7 @@ class MarkdownConverter(object):
         default_title = False
         escape_asterisks = True
         escape_underscores = True
+        escape_misc = True
         heading_style = UNDERLINED
         keep_inline_images_in = []
         newline_style = SPACES
@@ -199,6 +202,9 @@ class MarkdownConverter(object):
     def escape(self, text):
         if not text:
             return ''
+        if self.options['escape_misc']:
+            text = re.sub(r'([\\&<`[>~#=+|-])', r'\\\1', text)
+            text = re.sub(r'([0-9])([.)])', r'\1\\\2', text)
         if self.options['escape_asterisks']:
             text = text.replace('*', r'\*')
         if self.options['escape_underscores']:

diff --git a/tests/test_conversions.py b/tests/test_conversions.py
index 1e685f3..9652143 100644
--- a/tests/test_conversions.py
+++ b/tests/test_conversions.py
@@ -87,6 +87,16 @@ def test_code():
     assert md('<code><span>*this_should_not_escape*</span></code>') == '`*this_should_not_escape*`'
     assert md('<code>this  should\t\tnormalize</code>') == '`this should normalize`'
     assert md('<code><span>this  should\t\tnormalize</span></code>') == '`this should normalize`'
+    assert md('<code>foo<b>bar</b>baz</code>') == '`foobarbaz`'
+    assert md('<kbd>foo<i>bar</i>baz</kbd>') == '`foobarbaz`'
+    assert md('<samp>foo<del> bar </del>baz</samp>') == '`foo bar baz`'
+    assert md('<samp>foo <del>bar</del> baz</samp>') == '`foo bar baz`'
+    assert md('<code>foo<em> bar </em>baz</code>') == '`foo bar baz`'
+    assert md('<code>foo<code> bar </code>baz</code>') == '`foo bar baz`'
+    assert md('<code>foo<strong> bar </strong>baz</code>') == '`foo bar baz`'
+    assert md('<code>foo<s> bar </s>baz</code>') == '`foo bar baz`'
+    assert md('<code>foo<sup>bar</sup>baz</code>', sup_symbol='^') == '`foobarbaz`'
+    assert md('<code>foo<sub>bar</sub>baz</code>', sub_symbol='^') == '`foobarbaz`'
 
 
 def test_del():
@@ -215,6 +225,17 @@ def test_pre():
     assert md('<pre><span>*this_should_not_escape*</span></pre>') == '\n```\n*this_should_not_escape*\n```\n'
     assert md('<pre>\t\tthis  should\t\tnot  normalize</pre>') == '\n```\n\t\tthis  should\t\tnot  normalize\n```\n'
     assert md('<pre><span>\t\tthis  should\t\tnot  normalize</span></pre>') == '\n```\n\t\tthis  should\t\tnot  normalize\n```\n'
+    assert md('<pre>foo<b>\nbar\n</b>baz</pre>') == '\n```\nfoo\nbar\nbaz\n```\n'
+    assert md('<pre>foo<i>\nbar\n</i>baz</pre>') == '\n```\nfoo\nbar\nbaz\n```\n'
+    assert md('<pre>foo\n<i>bar</i>\nbaz</pre>') == '\n```\nfoo\nbar\nbaz\n```\n'
+    assert md('<pre>foo<i>\n</i>baz</pre>') == '\n```\nfoo\nbaz\n```\n'
+    assert md('<pre>foo<del>\nbar\n</del>baz</pre>') == '\n```\nfoo\nbar\nbaz\n```\n'
+    assert md('<pre>foo<em>\nbar\n</em>baz</pre>') == '\n```\nfoo\nbar\nbaz\n```\n'
+    assert md('<pre>foo<code>\nbar\n</code>baz</pre>') == '\n```\nfoo\nbar\nbaz\n```\n'
+    assert md('<pre>foo<strong>\nbar\n</strong>baz</pre>') == '\n```\nfoo\nbar\nbaz\n```\n'
+    assert md('<pre>foo<s>\nbar\n</s>baz</pre>') == '\n```\nfoo\nbar\nbaz\n```\n'
+    assert md('<pre>foo<sup>\nbar\n</sup>baz</pre>', sup_symbol='^') == '\n```\nfoo\nbar\nbaz\n```\n'
+    assert md('<pre>foo<sub>\nbar\n</sub>baz</pre>', sub_symbol='^') == '\n```\nfoo\nbar\nbaz\n```\n'
 
 
 def test_script():
diff --git a/tests/test_escaping.py b/tests/test_escaping.py
index 2f3a83e..eaef77d 100644
--- a/tests/test_escaping.py
+++ b/tests/test_escaping.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ def test_underscore():
 
 
 def test_xml_entities():
-    assert md('&amp;') == '&'
+    assert md('&amp;') == r'\&'
 
 
 def test_named_entities():
@@ -25,4 +25,23 @@ def test_hexadecimal_entities():
 
 
 def test_single_escaping_entities():
-    assert md('&amp;amp;') == '&amp;'
+    assert md('&amp;amp;') == r'\&amp;'
+
+
+def text_misc():
+    assert md('\\*') == r'\\\*'
+    assert md('<foo>') == r'\<foo\>'
+    assert md('# foo') == r'\# foo'
+    assert md('> foo') == r'\> foo'
+    assert md('~~foo~~') == r'\~\~foo\~\~'
+    assert md('foo\n===\n') == 'foo\n\\=\\=\\=\n'
+    assert md('---\n') == '\\-\\-\\-\n'
+    assert md('+ x\n+ y\n') == '\\+ x\n\\+ y\n'
+    assert md('`x`') == r'\`x\`'
+    assert md('[text](link)') == r'\[text](link)'
+    assert md('1. x') == r'1\. x'
+    assert md('not a number. x') == r'not a number. x'
+    assert md('1) x') == r'1\) x'
+    assert md('not a number) x') == r'not a number) x'
+    assert md('|not table|') == r'\|not table\|'
+    assert md(r'\ <foo> &amp;amp; | ` `', escape_misc=False) == r'\ <foo> &amp; | ` `'

Angle brackets <> aren't escaped.
```py
>>> markdownify('text&lt;text&gt;')                              
'text<text>'
```
In at least some flavours of Markdown, this would need to be `text\<text\>` instead. As an example, GitHub-flavoured Markdown gives

text<text>

and

text\<text\>

without and with backslashes respectively.
tests/test_conversions.py::test_code tests/test_conversions.py::test_pre tests/test_escaping.py::test_xml_entities tests/test_escaping.py::test_single_escaping_entities
tests/test_conversions.py::test_a tests/test_conversions.py::test_a_spaces tests/test_conversions.py::test_a_with_title tests/test_conversions.py::test_a_shortcut tests/test_conversions.py::test_a_no_autolinks tests/test_conversions.py::test_b tests/test_conversions.py::test_b_spaces tests/test_conversions.py::test_blockquote tests/test_conversions.py::test_blockquote_with_nested_paragraph tests/test_conversions.py::test_blockquote_with_paragraph tests/test_conversions.py::test_blockquote_nested tests/test_conversions.py::test_br tests/test_conversions.py::test_caption tests/test_conversions.py::test_del tests/test_conversions.py::test_div tests/test_conversions.py::test_em tests/test_conversions.py::test_header_with_space tests/test_conversions.py::test_h1 tests/test_conversions.py::test_h2 tests/test_conversions.py::test_hn tests/test_conversions.py::test_hn_chained tests/test_conversions.py::test_hn_nested_tag_heading_style tests/test_conversions.py::test_hn_nested_simple_tag tests/test_conversions.py::test_hn_nested_img tests/test_conversions.py::test_hn_atx_headings tests/test_conversions.py::test_hn_atx_closed_headings tests/test_conversions.py::test_head tests/test_conversions.py::test_hr tests/test_conversions.py::test_i tests/test_conversions.py::test_img tests/test_conversions.py::test_kbd tests/test_conversions.py::test_p tests/test_conversions.py::test_script tests/test_conversions.py::test_style tests/test_conversions.py::test_s tests/test_conversions.py::test_samp tests/test_conversions.py::test_strong tests/test_conversions.py::test_strong_em_symbol tests/test_conversions.py::test_sub tests/test_conversions.py::test_sup tests/test_conversions.py::test_lang tests/test_conversions.py::test_lang_callback tests/test_escaping.py::test_asterisks tests/test_escaping.py::test_underscore tests/test_escaping.py::test_named_entities tests/test_escaping.py::test_hexadecimal_entities