diff --git a/include/optutils.h b/include/optutils.h
index 325cb8812..0dc127bbc 100644
--- a/include/optutils.h
+++ b/include/optutils.h
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 #include "c.h"
 #include "nls.h"
+#include "cctype.h"
 
 static inline const char *option_to_longopt(int c, const struct option *opts)
 {
@@ -81,8 +82,8 @@ static inline void err_exclusive_options(
 			else if (status[e] != c) {
 				size_t ct = 0;
 
-				fprintf(stderr, _("%s: these options are "
-						  "mutually exclusive:"),
+				fprintf(stderr, _("%s: mutually exclusive "
+						  "arguments:"),
 						program_invocation_short_name);
 
 				for (op = excl[e];
@@ -91,7 +92,7 @@ static inline void err_exclusive_options(
 					const char *n = option_to_longopt(*op, opts);
 					if (n)
 						fprintf(stderr, " --%s", n);
-					else
+					else if (c_isgraph(*op))
 						fprintf(stderr, " -%c", *op);
 				}
 				fputc('\n', stderr);