diff --git a/src/backend/catalog/namespace.c b/src/backend/catalog/namespace.c
index 8fd4c3136b..8092381ae5 100644
--- a/src/backend/catalog/namespace.c
+++ b/src/backend/catalog/namespace.c
@@ -3685,7 +3685,7 @@ InitTempTableNamespace(void)
 	if (IsParallelWorker())
 		ereport(ERROR,
 				(errcode(ERRCODE_READ_ONLY_SQL_TRANSACTION),
-				 errmsg("cannot create temporary tables in parallel mode")));
+				 errmsg("cannot create temporary tables during a parallel operation")));
 
 	snprintf(namespaceName, sizeof(namespaceName), "pg_temp_%d", MyBackendId);
 
diff --git a/src/backend/commands/variable.c b/src/backend/commands/variable.c
index defafa54b2..1f72d7bee9 100644
--- a/src/backend/commands/variable.c
+++ b/src/backend/commands/variable.c
@@ -776,7 +776,7 @@ assign_client_encoding(const char *newval, void *extra)
 		 */
 		ereport(ERROR,
 				(errcode(ERRCODE_INVALID_TRANSACTION_STATE),
-			  errmsg("cannot change client_encoding in a parallel worker")));
+			  errmsg("cannot change client_encoding during a parallel operation")));
 	}
 
 	/* We do not expect an error if PrepareClientEncoding succeeded */
-- 
2.11.0