bind-address: settable via /etc/mysql/my.cnf only?

[Amit Dor-Shifer]

Hi,
I tried setting 'bind-address' as an option from ~/.my.cnf:

(amit0:~) # cat ~/.my.cnf
[mysqld]
bind-address 127.0.0.1
(amit0:~) # mysqld
061126 16:08:54 [ERROR] mysqld: unknown option '--bind-address 127.0.0.1'

   1. Is 'bind-address' then not an 'option'?
   2. As 'bind-address'  IS settable via /etc/mysql/my.cnf, I'm
      wondering what are my options of overriding this locally, per user?
   3. Can I both set and unset 'bind-address' by overriding?
   4. Are all the configuration params in /etc/mysql/my.cnf like that?
   5. Is 'mysqld --verbose' the suggested way to test reading of
      configuration/option files? If not, what is the recommended procedure?
   6. Is there a way to query 'bind-address' via mysql console/mysqladmin?

Thanks,
Amit