diff -r d664547ef540 -r bc13e17067d9 mercurial/merge.py
--- a/mercurial/merge.py	Sat Oct 09 17:58:48 2010 -0500
+++ b/mercurial/merge.py	Sat Oct 09 17:02:28 2010 -0500
@@ -502,11 +502,11 @@
             if pa == p1 or pa == p2: # linear
                 pass # all good
             elif wc.files() or wc.deleted():
-                raise util.Abort(_("crosses branches (use 'hg merge' to merge "
-                                 "or use 'hg update -C' to discard changes)"))
+                raise util.Abort(_("crosses branches (merge branches or use"
+                                   " --clean to discard changes)"))
             elif onode is None:
-                raise util.Abort(_("crosses branches (use 'hg merge' or use "
-                                   "'hg update -c')"))
+                raise util.Abort(_("crosses branches (merge branches or use"
+                                   " --check to force update)"))
             else:
                 # Allow jumping branches if clean and specific rev given
                 overwrite = True