Using ALT in applications

[dirk grunwald <grunwald cs colorado edu>]

I'm certain this must be documented some place, but I couldn't find it
after an hour.

I use KDE over Gnome for one reason (otherwise, I find them about the same).
In my default KDE installation (Mandrake 7.2 is the latest version), I can
use e.g. Alt-F in Emacs and the Alt binding "gets through". In Gnome/Sawfish,
it does not - pressing ALT causes a title bar change but it's not passed on
to the app.

There's got to be a way to disable this. I haven't been able to find it.
Any help appreciated.