diff --git a/doc/common.m4 b/doc/common.m4
index 0aea7f244..a9c696274 100644
--- a/doc/common.m4
+++ b/doc/common.m4
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ General help flags:
      --info                 show the manual with info
      --man                  show the manual with man
      --version              show version information
-     --debug=[1-9]          show this level of debug output (default: 1)
+     --debug=[1-9]          show this much debug output (default: 1)
 ```
 }} )m4_dnl
 m4_dnl
diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/CliOptions.hs b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/CliOptions.hs
index f276439bf..8f6cb070c 100644
--- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/CliOptions.hs
+++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/CliOptions.hs
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ helpflags = [
   -- flagOpt would be more correct for --debug, showing --debug[=LVL] rather than --debug=[LVL].
   -- But because we handle --debug specially, flagReq also works, and it does not need =, removing a source of confusion.
   -- (This involves specially adding the flag value if missing in Cli.hs.)
- ,flagReq  ["debug"]    (\s opts -> Right $ setopt "debug" s opts) "[1-9]" "show this level of debug output (default: 1)"
+ ,flagReq  ["debug"]    (\s opts -> Right $ setopt "debug" s opts) "[1-9]" "show this much debug output (default: 1)"
  ]
 -- XXX why are these duplicated in defCommandMode below ?