diff --git a/zic.c b/zic.c
index 6fc0120..d0240ce 100644
--- a/zic.c
+++ b/zic.c
@@ -337,8 +337,9 @@ error(string)
 char *	string;
 {
 	/*
-	** Match the format of "cc" so zic's diagnostic output can be fed to
-	** error.
+	** Match the format of "cc" to allow folks to
+	** 	zic ... | error -t "*" -v
+	** on BSD systems.
 	*/
 	(void) fprintf(stderr, "\"%s\", line %d: %s",
 		filename, linenum, string);