diff --git a/man/man1/hsmarkdown.1.md b/man/man1/hsmarkdown.1.md
index b8276ca6e..54d14a3ad 100644
--- a/man/man1/hsmarkdown.1.md
+++ b/man/man1/hsmarkdown.1.md
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ hsmarkdown - convert markdown-formatted text to HTML
 
 # SYNOPSIS
 
-**hsmarkdown [*input-file*]...**
+hsmarkdown [*input-file*]...
 
 # DESCRIPTION
 
diff --git a/man/man1/html2markdown.1.md b/man/man1/html2markdown.1.md
index f83a4b2c4..47757599a 100644
--- a/man/man1/html2markdown.1.md
+++ b/man/man1/html2markdown.1.md
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ html2markdown - converts HTML to markdown-formatted text
 
 # SYNOPSIS
 
-**html2markdown [*pandoc-options*] [-- *special-options*] [*input-file* or
-*URL*]**
+html2markdown [*pandoc-options*] [-- *special-options*] [*input-file* or
+*URL*]
 
 # DESCRIPTION
 
@@ -59,16 +59,15 @@ a complete list.  The following options are most relevant:
 :   Include contents of *FILE* at the end of the document body.
 
 -C *FILE*, --custom-header=*FILE*
-Use contents of *FILE*
-as the document header (overriding the default header, which can be
-printed using `pandoc -D markdown`).  Implies
-`-s`.
+:   Use contents of *FILE*
+    as the document header (overriding the default header, which can be
+    printed using `pandoc -D markdown`).  Implies `-s`.
 
 # SPECIAL OPTIONS
 
 In addition, the following special options may be used.  The special
 options must be separated from the `html2markdown` command and any
-regular `pandoc` options by the delimiter '`--`', as in
+regular `pandoc` options by the delimiter \``--`', as in
 
     html2markdown -o foo.txt -- -g 'curl -u bar:baz' -e latin1  \
     www.foo.com
diff --git a/man/man1/markdown2pdf.1.md b/man/man1/markdown2pdf.1.md
index 045adc2c1..1e6439f58 100644
--- a/man/man1/markdown2pdf.1.md
+++ b/man/man1/markdown2pdf.1.md
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ markdown2pdf - converts markdown-formatted text to PDF, using pdflatex
 
 # SYNOPSIS
 
-**markdown2pdf [*options*] [*input-file*]...**
+markdown2pdf [*options*] [*input-file*]...
 
 # DESCRIPTION
 
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ output through `iconv`:
 
     iconv -t utf-8 input.txt | pandoc | iconv -f utf-8
 
-`markdown2pdf` assumes that the 'unicode' and 'fancyvrb' packages
+`markdown2pdf` assumes that the `unicode` and `fancyvrb` packages
 are in latex's search path.  If these packages are not included in your
 latex setup, they can be obtained from <http://ctan.org>.
 
diff --git a/man/man1/pandoc.1.md b/man/man1/pandoc.1.md
index b06d6e21d..088c2b18f 100644
--- a/man/man1/pandoc.1.md
+++ b/man/man1/pandoc.1.md
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ pandoc - general markup converter
 
 # SYNOPSIS
 
-**pandoc [*options*] [*input-file*]...**
+pandoc [*options*] [*input-file*]...
 
 # DESCRIPTION
 
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ to Pandoc.  Or use `html2markdown`(1), a wrapper around `pandoc`.
 
 -o *FILE*, --output=*FILE*
 :   Write output to *FILE* instead of STDOUT.  If *FILE* is
-    '`-`', output will go to STDOUT.
+    \``-`', output will go to STDOUT.
 
 -p, --preserve-tabs
 :   Preserve tabs instead of converting them to spaces.
@@ -138,11 +138,11 @@ to Pandoc.  Or use `html2markdown`(1), a wrapper around `pandoc`.
 --dump-args
 :   Print information about command-line arguments to STDOUT, then exit.
     The first line of output contains the name of the output file specified
-    with the `-o` option, or '`-`' (for STDOUT) if no output file was
+    with the `-o` option, or \``-`' (for STDOUT) if no output file was
     specified.  The remaining lines contain the command-line arguments,
     one per line, in the order they appear.  These do not include regular
     Pandoc options and their arguments, but do include any options appearing
-    after a '`--`' separator at the end of the line.
+    after a \``--`' separator at the end of the line.
     This option is intended primarily for use in wrapper scripts.
 
 --ignore-args