diff --git a/man2/getrlimit.2 b/man2/getrlimit.2
index e80a6e32f..f6bf9c825 100644
--- a/man2/getrlimit.2
+++ b/man2/getrlimit.2
@@ -293,6 +293,9 @@ or
 .BR nice (2).
 The actual ceiling for the nice value is calculated as
 .IR "20\ \-\ rlim_cur" .
+The useful range for this limit is thus from 1
+(corresponding to a nice value of 19) to 40
+(corresponding to a nice value of -20).
 (This strangeness occurs because negative numbers cannot be specified
 as resource limit values, since they typically have special meanings.
 For example,