diff -r 5d115ea4030b -r fe48c57390f2 mercurial/util.py
--- a/mercurial/util.py	Tue Apr 05 11:07:25 2011 +0200
+++ b/mercurial/util.py	Tue Apr 05 10:01:39 2011 +0200
@@ -1196,12 +1196,12 @@
         raise Abort(_("dates cannot consist entirely of whitespace"))
     elif date[0] == "<":
         if not date[1:]:
-            raise Abort(_("invalid day spec. use '<{datetime}' "))
+            raise Abort(_("invalid day spec, use '<DATE'"))
         when = upper(date[1:])
         return lambda x: x <= when
     elif date[0] == ">":
         if not date[1:]:
-            raise Abort(_("invalid day spec. use '>{datetime}' "))
+            raise Abort(_("invalid day spec, use '>DATE'"))
         when = lower(date[1:])
         return lambda x: x >= when
     elif date[0] == "-":