diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/psql-ref.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/psql-ref.sgml
index c0c075f11e3..0c10bdc1cbc 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/psql-ref.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/psql-ref.sgml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 <!--
-$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/psql-ref.sgml,v 1.156 2005/12/18 02:17:16 petere Exp $
+$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/psql-ref.sgml,v 1.157 2005/12/20 00:51:45 tgl Exp $
 PostgreSQL documentation
 -->
 
@@ -1378,16 +1378,15 @@ lo_import 152801
         </listitem>
       </varlistentry>
 
-
       <varlistentry>
-        <term><literal>\password [ <replaceable class=parameter>username</replaceable> ]</literal>
+        <term><literal>\password [ <replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable> ]</literal></term>
         <listitem>
         <para>
-        Changes the password of the specified user or by default the
-        current user.  This command prompts for the new password,
-        encrypts it, and sends it to the server.  This makes sure that
-        the new password does not appear in the command history, the
-        server log, or elsewhere in cleartext.
+        Changes the password of the specified user (by default, the current
+        user).  This command prompts for the new password, encrypts it, and
+        sends it to the server as an <command>ALTER ROLE</> command.  This
+        makes sure that the new password does not appear in cleartext in the
+        command history, the server log, or elsewhere.
         </para>
         </listitem>
       </varlistentry>