diff --git a/builtin-branch.c b/builtin-branch.c
index d6d5cff6b8cac21f2eb748751f9530e3b18c7246..fbd90e42d111c698d33305570c8f1988998a3c70 100644
--- a/builtin-branch.c
+++ b/builtin-branch.c
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ static int delete_branches(int argc, const char **argv, int force, int kinds)
 
 		if (!force &&
 		    !in_merge_bases(rev, &head_rev, 1)) {
-			error("The branch '%s' is not a strict subset of "
+			error("The branch '%s' is not an ancestor of "
 				"your current HEAD.\n"
 				"If you are sure you want to delete it, "
 				"run 'git branch -D %s'.", argv[i], argv[i]);
diff --git a/http-push.c b/http-push.c
index c02a3af63450fd7cf22118b481b4f0d9dd35b156..9314621a11030e66eeba7f0da6b88a813e1ba759 100644
--- a/http-push.c
+++ b/http-push.c
@@ -2241,7 +2241,11 @@ static int delete_remote_branch(char *pattern, int force)
 
 		/* Remote branch must be an ancestor of remote HEAD */
 		if (!verify_merge_base(head_sha1, remote_ref->old_sha1)) {
-			return error("The branch '%s' is not a strict subset of your current HEAD.\nIf you are sure you want to delete it, run:\n\t'git http-push -D %s %s'", remote_ref->name, remote->url, pattern);
+			return error("The branch '%s' is not an ancestor "
+				     "of your current HEAD.\n"
+				     "If you are sure you want to delete it,"
+				     " run:\n\t'git http-push -D %s %s'",
+				     remote_ref->name, remote->url, pattern);
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -2417,16 +2421,17 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 			if (!has_sha1_file(ref->old_sha1) ||
 			    !ref_newer(ref->peer_ref->new_sha1,
 				       ref->old_sha1)) {
-				/* We do not have the remote ref, or
+				/*
+				 * We do not have the remote ref, or
 				 * we know that the remote ref is not
 				 * an ancestor of what we are trying to
 				 * push.  Either way this can be losing
 				 * commits at the remote end and likely
 				 * we were not up to date to begin with.
 				 */
-				error("remote '%s' is not a strict "
-				      "subset of local ref '%s'. "
-				      "maybe you are not up-to-date and "
+				error("remote '%s' is not an ancestor of\n"
+				      "local '%s'.\n"
+				      "Maybe you are not up-to-date and "
 				      "need to pull first?",
 				      ref->name,
 				      ref->peer_ref->name);
diff --git a/send-pack.c b/send-pack.c
index 5e127a1b7b33bdc9aaafc80873c5c987573566bd..b74fd454f2f09d23ffde7db015d4a7458dfcd348 100644
--- a/send-pack.c
+++ b/send-pack.c
@@ -297,9 +297,9 @@ static int send_pack(int in, int out, struct remote *remote, int nr_refspec, cha
 				 * commits at the remote end and likely
 				 * we were not up to date to begin with.
 				 */
-				error("remote '%s' is not a strict "
-				      "subset of local ref '%s'. "
-				      "maybe you are not up-to-date and "
+				error("remote '%s' is not an ancestor of\n"
+				      " local  '%s'.\n"
+				      " Maybe you are not up-to-date and "
 				      "need to pull first?",
 				      ref->name,
 				      ref->peer_ref->name);