diff --git a/etcdmain/config.go b/etcdmain/config.go
index 64abdfec1..f2aaa94a4 100644
--- a/etcdmain/config.go
+++ b/etcdmain/config.go
@@ -159,15 +159,15 @@ func NewConfig() *config {
 	fs.Var(flags.NewURLsValue("http://localhost:2379,http://localhost:4001"), "listen-client-urls", "List of URLs to listen on for client traffic.")
 	fs.UintVar(&cfg.maxSnapFiles, "max-snapshots", defaultMaxSnapshots, "Maximum number of snapshot files to retain (0 is unlimited).")
 	fs.UintVar(&cfg.maxWalFiles, "max-wals", defaultMaxWALs, "Maximum number of wal files to retain (0 is unlimited).")
-	fs.StringVar(&cfg.name, "name", defaultName, "Unique human-readable name for this node.")
-	fs.Uint64Var(&cfg.snapCount, "snapshot-count", etcdserver.DefaultSnapCount, "Number of committed transactions to trigger a snapshot.")
+	fs.StringVar(&cfg.name, "name", defaultName, "Human-readable name for this member.")
+	fs.Uint64Var(&cfg.snapCount, "snapshot-count", etcdserver.DefaultSnapCount, "Number of committed transactions to trigger a snapshot to disk.")
 	fs.UintVar(&cfg.TickMs, "heartbeat-interval", 100, "Time (in milliseconds) of a heartbeat interval.")
 	fs.UintVar(&cfg.ElectionMs, "election-timeout", 1000, "Time (in milliseconds) for an election to timeout.")
 
 	// clustering
 	fs.Var(flags.NewURLsValue(defaultInitialAdvertisePeerURLs), "initial-advertise-peer-urls", "List of this member's peer URLs to advertise to the rest of the cluster.")
-	fs.Var(flags.NewURLsValue("http://localhost:2379,http://localhost:4001"), "advertise-client-urls", "List of this member's client URLs to advertise to the rest of the cluster.")
-	fs.StringVar(&cfg.durl, "discovery", "", "Discovery service used to bootstrap the initial cluster.")
+	fs.Var(flags.NewURLsValue("http://localhost:2379,http://localhost:4001"), "advertise-client-urls", "List of this member's client URLs to advertise to the public.")
+	fs.StringVar(&cfg.durl, "discovery", "", "Discovery URL used to bootstrap the cluster.")
 	fs.Var(cfg.fallback, "discovery-fallback", fmt.Sprintf("Valid values include %s", strings.Join(cfg.fallback.Values, ", ")))
 	if err := cfg.fallback.Set(fallbackFlagProxy); err != nil {
 		// Should never happen.
@@ -177,12 +177,12 @@ func NewConfig() *config {
 	fs.StringVar(&cfg.dnsCluster, "discovery-srv", "", "DNS domain used to bootstrap initial cluster.")
 	fs.StringVar(&cfg.initialCluster, "initial-cluster", initialClusterFromName(defaultName), "Initial cluster configuration for bootstrapping.")
 	fs.StringVar(&cfg.initialClusterToken, "initial-cluster-token", "etcd-cluster", "Initial cluster token for the etcd cluster during bootstrap.")
-	fs.Var(cfg.clusterState, "initial-cluster-state", "Initial cluster configuration for bootstrapping.")
+	fs.Var(cfg.clusterState, "initial-cluster-state", "Initial cluster state ('new' or 'existing').")
 	if err := cfg.clusterState.Set(clusterStateFlagNew); err != nil {
 		// Should never happen.
 		plog.Panicf("unexpected error setting up clusterStateFlag: %v", err)
 	}
-	fs.BoolVar(&cfg.strictReconfigCheck, "strict-reconfig-check", false, "Reject reconfiguration that might cause quorum loss.")
+	fs.BoolVar(&cfg.strictReconfigCheck, "strict-reconfig-check", false, "Reject reconfiguration requests that would cause quorum loss.")
 
 	// proxy
 	fs.Var(cfg.proxy, "proxy", fmt.Sprintf("Valid values include %s", strings.Join(cfg.proxy.Values, ", ")))
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ func NewConfig() *config {
 	fs.StringVar(&cfg.peerTLSInfo.TrustedCAFile, "peer-trusted-ca-file", "", "Path to the peer server TLS trusted CA file.")
 
 	// logging
-	fs.BoolVar(&cfg.debug, "debug", false, "Enable debug output to the logs.")
+	fs.BoolVar(&cfg.debug, "debug", false, "Enable debug-level logging for etcd.")
 	fs.StringVar(&cfg.logPkgLevels, "log-package-levels", "", "Specify a particular log level for each etcd package (eg: 'etcdmain=CRITICAL,etcdserver=DEBUG').")
 
 	// unsafe