diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HStoreKey.java b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HStoreKey.java
index fe0d4c91ed4..eab089beed9 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HStoreKey.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/HStoreKey.java
@@ -387,7 +387,7 @@ public class HStoreKey implements WritableComparable {
   throws ColumnNameParseException {
     int index = getFamilyDelimiterIndex(column);
     if (index <= 0) {
-      throw new ColumnNameParseException("No ':' delimiter between " +
+      throw new ColumnNameParseException("Missing ':' delimiter between " +
         "column family and qualifier in the passed column name <" +
         Bytes.toString(column) + ">");
     }