Thanks for the reply, and for the advice. (Sorry, looks like I had my personal --verbose option set.)

Another data point:

When you make a special program to test Pod::Usage, outside of the 'cookie cutter program' I showed in my first example, it WORKS.

The only time Pod::Usage seems to be misfiring is in the original context above.

#!/usr/bin/perl -w mystery.pl

use Pod::Usage;

pod2usage ( {
        -exit_status    => 0,
        -verbose_level     => 1
    } );

__END__

=head1 SYNOPSIS

mystery.pl tests Pod::Usage

=head1 OPTIONS

Yet this message DOES appear when you summon
pod2usage, be it under Cygwin or AS

. . . ?!?
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