git checkout and pwd?

On a Windows system running msysgit, I entered the command:

	git checkout -b -l jmd/mt_queue

and got a reply of: fatal: git checkout: updating paths is incompatible with switching branches. Did you intend to checkout 'compile.vc8/Win32/release/jmd/mt_queue' which can not be resolved as commit?

Is there something about this form of checkout that requires that it be issued while in the "top level" directory of the project (i.e. the one containing the .git subdirectory)?

--John (sorry about the footer; it's not my idea)

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