diff --git a/flag.go b/flag.go
index ddd6ef8..7426d37 100644
--- a/flag.go
+++ b/flag.go
@@ -67,10 +67,15 @@ type GenericFlag struct {
 	EnvVar string
 }
 
+// String returns the string representation of the generic flag to display the
+// help text to the user (uses the String() method of the generic flag to show
+// the value)
 func (f GenericFlag) String() string {
-	return withEnvHint(f.EnvVar, fmt.Sprintf("%s%s %v\t`%v` %s", prefixFor(f.Name), f.Name, f.Value, "-"+f.Name+" option -"+f.Name+" option", f.Usage))
+	return withEnvHint(f.EnvVar, fmt.Sprintf("%s%s '%v'\t%v", prefixFor(f.Name), f.Name, f.Value, f.Usage))
 }
 
+// Apply takes the flagset and calls Set on the generic flag with the value
+// provided by the user for parsing by the flag
 func (f GenericFlag) Apply(set *flag.FlagSet) {
 	val := f.Value
 	if f.EnvVar != "" {
diff --git a/flag_test.go b/flag_test.go
index 4f0ba55..3ed07cd 100644
--- a/flag_test.go
+++ b/flag_test.go
@@ -262,15 +262,14 @@ var genericFlagTests = []struct {
 	value    cli.Generic
 	expected string
 }{
-	{"help", &Parser{}, "--help <nil>\t`-help option -help option` "},
-	{"h", &Parser{}, "-h <nil>\t`-h option -h option` "},
-	{"test", &Parser{}, "--test <nil>\t`-test option -test option` "},
+	{"test", &Parser{"abc", "def"}, "--test 'abc,def'\ttest flag"},
+	{"t", &Parser{"abc", "def"}, "-t 'abc,def'\ttest flag"},
 }
 
 func TestGenericFlagHelpOutput(t *testing.T) {
 
 	for _, test := range genericFlagTests {
-		flag := cli.GenericFlag{Name: test.name}
+		flag := cli.GenericFlag{Name: test.name, Value: test.value, Usage: "test flag"}
 		output := flag.String()
 
 		if output != test.expected {