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diff --git a/lib/utf8.pm b/lib/utf8.pm
index 402127a..b18a043 100644
--- a/lib/utf8.pm
+++ b/lib/utf8.pm
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 package utf8;
 
-
 $utf8::hint_bits = 0x00800000;
 
 our $VERSION = '1.00';
@@ -34,9 +33,6 @@ utf8 - Perl pragma to enable/disable UTF-8 (or UTF-EBCDIC) in source code
 
 =head1 DESCRIPTION
 
-WARNING: The implementation of Unicode support in Perl is incomplete.
-See L<perlunicode> for the exact details.
-
 The C<use utf8> pragma tells the Perl parser to allow UTF-8 in the
 program text in the current lexical scope (allow UTF-EBCDIC on EBCDIC based
 platforms).  The C<no utf8> pragma tells Perl to switch back to treating 
@@ -49,37 +45,30 @@ source text.  Until UTF-8 becomes the default format for source
 text, this pragma should be used to recognize UTF-8 in the source.
 When UTF-8 becomes the standard source format, this pragma will
 effectively become a no-op.  For convenience in what follows the
-term UTF-X is used to refer to UTF-8 on ASCII and ISO Latin based
+term I<UTF-X> is used to refer to UTF-8 on ASCII and ISO Latin based
 platforms and UTF-EBCDIC on EBCDIC based platforms.
 
-Enabling the C<utf8> pragma has the following effects:
+Enabling the C<utf8> pragma has the following effect:
 
 =over 4
 
 =item *
 
 Bytes in the source text that have their high-bit set will be treated
-as being part of a literal UTF-8 character.  This includes most literals
-such as identifiers, string constants, constant regular expression patterns
-and package names.  On EBCDIC platforms, characters in the C1 control group 
-and the Latin 1 character set are treated as being part of a literal
+as being part of a literal UTF-8 character.  This includes most
+literals such as identifiers, string constants, constant regular
+expression patterns and package names.  On EBCDIC platforms characters
+in the Latin 1 character set are treated as being part of a literal
 UTF-EBCDIC character.
 
-=item *
-
-In the absence of inputs marked as UTF-X, regular expressions within the 
-scope of this pragma will default to using character semantics instead
-of byte semantics.
-
-    @bytes_or_chars = split //, $data;	# may split to bytes if data
-					# $data isn't UTF-X
-    {
-	use utf8;			# force char semantics
-	@chars = split //, $data;	# splits characters
-    }
-
 =back
 
+Note that if you have bytes with the eighth bit on in your script
+(for example embedded Latin-1 in your string literals), C<use utf8>
+will be unhappy since the bytes are most probably not well-formed
+UTF-8.  If you want to have such bytes and use utf8, you can disable
+utf8 until the end the block (or file, if at top level) by C<no utf8;>.
+
 =head2 Utility functions
 
 The following functions are defined in the C<utf8::> package by the perl core.
@@ -88,24 +77,39 @@ The following functions are defined in the C<utf8::> package by the perl core.
 
 =item * $num_octets = utf8::upgrade($string);
 
-Converts internal representation of string to the perls internal UTF-X form.
-Returns the number of octets necessary to represent the string as UTF-X.
+Converts internal representation of string to the Perl's internal
+I<UTF-X> form.  Returns the number of octets necessary to represent
+the string as I<UTF-X>.  Note that this should not be used to convert
+a legacy byte encoding to Unicode: use Encode for that.  Affected
+by the encoding pragma.
 
 =item * utf8::downgrade($string[, CHECK])
 
 Converts internal representation of string to be un-encoded bytes.
+Note that this should not be used to convert Unicode back to a legacy
+byte encoding: use Encode for that.  B<Not> affected by the encoding
+pragma.
 
 =item * utf8::encode($string)
 
-Converts (in-place) I<$string> from logical characters to octet sequence
-representing it in perl's UTF-X encoding.
+Converts (in-place) I<$string> from logical characters to octet
+sequence representing it in Perl's I<UTF-X> encoding.  Note that this
+should not be used to convert a legacy byte encoding to Unicode: use
+Encode for that.  =item * $flag = utf8::decode($string)
 
-=item * $flag = utf8::decode($string)
-
-Attempts to convert I<$string> in-place from perl's UTF-X encoding into logical characters.
+Attempts to convert I<$string> in-place from Perl's I<UTF-X> encoding
+into logical characters.  Note that this should not be used to convert
+Unicode back to a legacy byte encoding: use Encode for that.
 
 =back
 
+C<utf8::encode> is like C<utf8::upgrade> but the UTF8 flag does not
+get turned on. See L<perlunicode> for more on the UTF8 flag and the C
+API functions C<sv_utf8_upgrade>, C<sv_utf8_downgrade>,
+C<sv_utf8_encode>, C<sv_utf8_decode> that are wrapped by the Perl
+functions C<utf8::upgrade>, C<utf8::downgrade>, C<utf8::encode> and
+C<utf8::decode>.
+
 =head1 SEE ALSO
 
 L<perlunicode>, L<bytes>