diff --git a/lib/regexprops.c b/lib/regexprops.c
index 7e566cfe..369e6988 100644
--- a/lib/regexprops.c
+++ b/lib/regexprops.c
@@ -358,7 +358,7 @@ static int describe_regex_syntax(int options)
 	  
 	  if (options & RE_CONTEXT_INVALID_OPS)
 	    {
-	      content("are special at any point in a regular expression except the following places, where they are illegal:");
+	      content("are special at any point in a regular expression except the following places, where they are not allowed:");
 	    }
 	  else
 	    {
diff --git a/xargs/xargs.c b/xargs/xargs.c
index 90f7a3cd..667374de 100644
--- a/xargs/xargs.c
+++ b/xargs/xargs.c
@@ -407,7 +407,7 @@ get_input_delimiter(const char *s)
       else
 	{
 	  error(1, 0,
-		_("Illegal input delimiter specification %s: the delimited must be either a single character or an escape sequence starting with \\."),
+		_("Invalid input delimiter specification %s: the delimited must be either a single character or an escape sequence starting with \\."),
 		s);
 	}
     }