The first bullet point is incorrect. In normal text, you use # for functions and symbols, i.e. #sym.phi or #emph. In math blocks, you don't use # for stuff like phi or floor but that's because it interprets everything as a function or symbol, with an exception for single letters. If you want any plain text in a math block, whether it's a function name or not, you just put quotes around it. If you want implicit multiplication, you need spaces between each letter.

I also don't know what you mean by the second bullet point. If you want repeatable single word or sentence formatting, you can define a function for it, which there is easy syntax for.