diff --git a/apps/lang/english.lang b/apps/lang/english.lang
index dcaeb2f7e5..770b60da28 100644
--- a/apps/lang/english.lang
+++ b/apps/lang/english.lang
@@ -17,16 +17,14 @@
 # This is the master of the language files. This is the original, the one with
 # all the existing strings Rockbox features.
 #
-# The target names used for target-specific strings are set in the ARCHOS
-# variable in the root Makefile
-#
 # *WARNING*
 #
 # If you want to add a new string, add it to the end of this file!
-# Removing strings will break the numbering of strings in binary lang files and
-# voice files so instead of removing a unused <phrase>, change the desc field
-# to "deprecated" (without quotes) and either blank the strings or change them to
-# "deprecated" (without quotes) and do *not* change the targets.
+# Removing strings will break the numbering of strings in binary lang
+# files and voice files so instead of removing a unused <phrase>, change
+# the desc field to "deprecated" (without quotes) and either blank the
+# strings or change them to "deprecated" (without quotes) and do *not*
+# change the targets.
 #
 # If you re-order things or remove entries, you must bump the binary language
 # file version number in both the 'genlang' tool and the language loader code.
@@ -40,57 +38,31 @@
 # when doing updates etc, while the <dest> ones are used when this file is
 # used to simply get the full set of english strings for a particular target.
 #
-# All phrases have a default string like: *: "default" that will be used if no
-# other string matches for the particular model you build the language for. If
-# you want a particular string for the iriver iriverh300 series you'd write it like:
-# iriverh300: "iriverh300-specific string" (below the default line). If your string isn't
-# used for all targets set the default to none like: *: none (no quotes!) this
-# will not include the string for target that will not need it, see
-# apps/features.txt for available categories that can be used instead of the
-# target name, for example: swcodec: "swcodec-specific string".
+# All phrases have a default string like:
+#  *: "default"
+# that will be used if no other string matches for the particular model you
+# build the anguage for. If you want a particular string for the iriver
+# iriverh300 series you'd write it like:
+#   iriverh300: "iriverh300-specific string" (below the default line).
+# If your string isn't used for all targets set the default to none like:
+#   *: none (no quotes!)
+# this will not include the string for target that will not need it, see
+# apps/features.txt for available categories that can be used instead of
+# the target name, for example: swcodec: "swcodec-specific string".
 #
-# The target names used are picked from the configure script and are set in the
-# MODELNAME variable in the root makefile. This is an incomplete list:
-# Target        Target string
-# iriver
-# H100/H110/H115    iriverh100
-# H120/H140         iriverh120
-# H320/H340         iriverh300
-# H10               iriverh10
-# iaudio/Cowon
-# X5                iaudiox5
-# M5                iaudiom5
-# D2                cowond2*
-# ipod
-# All iPods         ipod*
-# 4G Color/Photo    ipodcolor
-# Nano              ipodnano1g
-# Video (5G)        ipodvideo
-# 3G                ipod3g
-# 4G gray           ipod4g
-# mini              ipodmini1g
-# mini 2G           ipodmini2g
-# Toshiba
-# All gigabeats     gigabeat*
-# Gigabeat Fxx      gigabeatfx
-# Gigabeat Sxx      gigabeats
-# Sandisk
-# Sansa E200        sansae200*
-# Sansa C200        sansac200*
-# Sansa Fuze        sansafuze*
-# Sansa Clip        sansaclip*
-# Olympus
-# m:robe 100        mrobe100
-# m:robe 500        mrobe500
-# Mpio
-# HD200             mpiohd200
-# HD300             mpiohd300
-# Packard Bell
-# Vibe 500          vibe500
-# Philips
-# GoGear SA9200     gogearsa9200
-# Samsung
-# YH820/YH920/YH925 samsungyh*
+# The target names are either the model name picked from the
+# configure script, or various feature flags.  Look at the 'rockbox-info.txt'
+# file in your build directory for a list of all of the feature flags
+# supported by your build; typicall there are well over a dozen.
+#
+# It is possible for there to be multiple matches.  When this is deteted
+# the build system will treat this as a failure.  There is a special
+# case where this is intentional. Some strings refer to key actions that
+# may be unique for a given device, but we need a way to flag an error
+# if that is not properly defined.  In this case, the feature flag
+# is given a special value "FALLBACK".  As an example of this, see
+# the 'rtc' string of of LANG_TIME_SET_BUTTON.
+####
 # First item will be shown when P2STR is passed a NULL pointer
 <phrase>
   id: LANG_ROCKBOX_TITLE
@@ -3687,7 +3659,7 @@
     iriverh100,iriverh120,iriverh300: "NAVI = Set"
     mpiohd300: "ENTER = Set"
     mrobe500: "HEART = Set"
-    rtc: "ON = Set"
+    rtc: "FALLBACK"
     vibe500: "OK = Set"
   </source>
   <dest>
@@ -3697,7 +3669,7 @@
     iriverh100,iriverh120,iriverh300: "NAVI = Set"
     mpiohd300: "ENTER = Set"
     mrobe500: "HEART = Set"
-    rtc: "ON = Set"
+    rtc: "FALLBACK"
     vibe500: "OK = Set"
   </dest>
   <voice>
@@ -3719,7 +3691,7 @@
     iriverh10,iriverh10_5gb,sansae200*,sansafuze*: "PREV = Revert"
     iriverh100,iriverh120,iriverh300: "STOP = Revert"
     mrobe100: "DISPLAY = Revert"
-    rtc: "OFF = Revert"
+    rtc: "FALLBACK"
     samsungyh*: "REW = Revert"
     vibe500: "CANCEL = Revert"
   </source>
@@ -3733,7 +3705,7 @@
     iriverh10,iriverh10_5gb,sansae200*,sansafuze*: "PREV = Revert"
     iriverh100,iriverh120,iriverh300: "STOP = Revert"
     mrobe100: "DISPLAY = Revert"
-    rtc: "OFF = Revert"
+    rtc: "FALLBACK"
     samsungyh*: "REW = Revert"
     vibe500: "CANCEL = Revert"
   </dest>
diff --git a/tools/genlang b/tools/genlang
index 6d0aa12528..7fd8f8099b 100755
--- a/tools/genlang
+++ b/tools/genlang
@@ -235,6 +235,7 @@ sub readenglish {
     my $withindest;
     my $numphrases = 0;
     my $numusers = 1; # core is already in the users map
+    my $deststr;
 
     while(<ENG>) {
 
@@ -243,8 +244,7 @@ sub readenglish {
 
         if($_ =~ /^ *\<phrase\>/) {
             # this is the start of a phrase
-        }
-        elsif($_ =~ /\<\/phrase\>/) {
+        } elsif($_ =~ /\<\/phrase\>/) {
 
             # if id is something, when we count and store this phrase
             if($id) {
@@ -253,8 +253,7 @@ sub readenglish {
                     # Assign an ID number to this entry
                     $idmap[$user]{$id}=$vidnum[$user];
                     $vidnum[$user]++;
-                }
-                else {
+                } else {
                     # Assign an ID number to this entry
                     $idmap[$user]{$id}=$idnum[$user];
                     $idnum[$user]++;
@@ -266,8 +265,7 @@ sub readenglish {
             }
             undef @phrase;
             $id="";
-        }
-        elsif($_ ne "\n") {
+        } elsif($_ ne "\n") {
             # gather everything related to this phrase
             push @phrase, $_;
             if($_ =~ /^ *\<dest\>/i) {
@@ -278,12 +276,10 @@ sub readenglish {
                 $withindest=0;
 
                 if($deststr && ($deststr !~ /^none\z/i)) {
-                    # we unconditionally always use all IDs when the "update"
-                    # feature is used
+		    die ("Missing specific target match for $maybeid\n") if ($deststr eq '"FALLBACK"');
                     $id = $maybeid;
     #                print "DEST: use this id $id\n";
-                }
-                else {
+                } else {
     #                print "skip $maybeid for $name\n";
                 }
             }
@@ -293,11 +289,24 @@ sub readenglish {
                 # model name isn't "ours"
                 dest($_, $name, $val);
 
-                if($dest) {
-                    # Store the current dest string. If this target matches
-                    # multiple strings, it will get updated several times.
-                    $deststr = $dest;
-                }
+		## If $dest is nonnull (ie we have a match for this target)
+		##   if $deststr is null, accept
+		##   if $name is '*', accept
+		##   if $name is not '*' and $deststr is not null, COMPLAIN.
+
+		if ($dest) {
+		    if (!$deststr) {
+			$deststr = $dest;
+		    } elsif ($name eq '*') {
+			$deststr = $dest;
+		    } elsif ($deststr ne 'none' && $val ne '"FALLBACK"') {
+			die("multiple matches on $maybeid ($name:$val / $deststr)\n");
+		    } elsif ($deststr ne 'none' && $val eq '"FALLBACK"') {
+			# Ignore FALLBACK row if we already have a match
+		    } else {
+			$deststr = $dest;
+		    }
+		}
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/tools/updatelang b/tools/updatelang
index e68d958221..c17d08a85b 100755
--- a/tools/updatelang
+++ b/tools/updatelang
@@ -555,6 +555,7 @@ foreach my $id (@finalorder) {
     print $fh "  <source>\n";
     foreach my $tgt (sort(keys(%lp))) {
 	my $w = NFC($lp{$tgt});
+	next if ($w eq 'FALLBACK');
 	if ($w eq 'none') {
 	    print $fh "    $tgt: $w\n";
 	} else {
@@ -568,6 +569,7 @@ foreach my $id (@finalorder) {
     print $fh "  <dest>\n";
     foreach my $tgt (sort(keys(%lp))) {
 	my $w = NFC($lp{$tgt});
+	next if ($w eq 'FALLBACK');
 	if ($w eq 'none') {
 	    print $fh "    $tgt: $w\n";
 	} else {
@@ -581,6 +583,7 @@ foreach my $id (@finalorder) {
     print $fh "  <voice>\n";
     foreach my $tgt (sort(keys(%lp))) {
 	my $w = NFC($lp{$tgt});
+	next if ($w eq 'FALLBACK');
 	if ($w eq 'none') {
 	    print $fh "    $tgt: $w\n";
 	} else {