Don't mind if the message is changed at all - this one kind of reminds me of a pre-recorded telephone operator - so if anyone has any suggestions...
diff -uNr 2.0/bin/emerge 2.0-patched/bin/emerge --- 2.0/bin/emerge 2005-09-27 13:16:09.000000000 +0900 +++ 2.0-patched/bin/emerge 2005-09-28 00:15:21.000000000 +0900 @@ -1071,6 +1071,10 @@ elif not "--oneshot" in myopts: myfavorites.append(mykey) else: + if not portage.isvalidatom(x): + print ("\n\n!!! '%s' is an invalid atom." % x) + print "!!! Please check the syntax and try again." + print "!!! man 5 ebuild for specific details." try: mykey=portage.dep_expand(x,mydb=portage.portdb) except ValueError, errpkgs: