From http://reference.sitepoint.com/html/var:
The var element is used to indicate that the text is a variable and
shouldn’t be taken literally. Instead, it’s an example that should be
replaced with your own value.
Also in
http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/html-37-steps-perfect-markup/2 at
item 29.:
A common misconception is that var should be used for marking up
variables in programming code samples.
<dt>var</dt>
<dd>
- This file name is in <var>$THIS_FILE</var>... this is just an example, you
- know.
+ Save this file to <var>xhtml11_quickref.html</var>... this is just an example value,
+ you can choose the name you like more.
</dd>
</dl>