Hover/active link css

OK, so, I'm using the pseudo classes a:hover and a:active to make my
hyperlinks be italic when the mouse is over them.  But now, I want to have
*some* links be normal.  Is this possible?  No combination I've tried can
get me this.  I'm developing for MSIE 5+ on an intranet.  Here are some code
snippets:

<style type="text/css">

a:active { font-style: italic; }
a:hover  { font-style: italic; }

.menulink {
  text-decoration: none;
  color: black;
  font-style: normal;
}
</style>

...

<a href="somelink.html">This link I want to be italic</a>
<a href="somelink.html">and this in italic</a>
<a href="somelink.html">and this and 100 other links on this page</a>

<a href="anotherlink.html" class=menulink>But this link I want with no
underline, in black, normal font</a>

The last link is not underlined, and is black, but it italicizes on
mouse-over.  Ideas?

-------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Mount, Software Engineer            steve(at)saltyrain.com
Home Site                            http://www.saltyrain.com
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