--- emerge.1.orig	2006-09-03 02:39:01.000000000 +0200
+++ emerge.1	2006-09-03 02:39:06.000000000 +0200
@@ -364,7 +364,38 @@
 .BR "\-\-verbose " (\fB\-v\fR)
 Tell emerge to run in verbose mode.  Currently this flag causes emerge to print 
 out GNU info errors, if any, and to show the USE flags that will be used for 
-each package when pretending.
+each package when pretending. The following symbols are used with flags to
+denote their status:
+.br 
+ 
+.br 
+\fI-\fR = USE flag is effectively disabled (without this symbol it is enabled)
+.br 
+\fI*\fR = the flag's effective setting changed since last merge of the package
+.br 
+\fI%\fR = the flag was added or removed in the package since the last merge
+.br 
+\fI()\fR = the flag's availability changed because of removal or profile masking
+.br
+
+.br
+The following combinations of symbols are possible:
+.br
+
+.br
+\fIfoo*\fR = enabled flag that was previously disabled
+.br
+\fI-foo*\fR = disabled flag that was previously enabled
+.br
+\fIfoo%*\fR = newly added flag that is enabled
+.br
+\fI-foo%\fR = newly added flag that is disabled
+.br
+\fI(-foo%*)\fR = previously enabled flag which is now removed
+.br 
+\fI(-foo%)\fR = previously disabled flag which is now removed
+.br 
+\fI(-foo)\fR = denotes profile masked flag
 .SH "ENVIRONMENT OPTIONS"
 .TP
 \fBROOT\fR = \fI[path]\fR