diff --git a/qapi/qobject-input-visitor.c b/qapi/qobject-input-visitor.c
index ed6c24ca44..f3b6713f94 100644
--- a/qapi/qobject-input-visitor.c
+++ b/qapi/qobject-input-visitor.c
@@ -140,8 +140,7 @@ static void qobject_input_check_struct(Visitor *v, Error **errp)
 
             g_hash_table_iter_init(&iter, top_ht);
             if (g_hash_table_iter_next(&iter, (void **)&key, NULL)) {
-                error_setg(errp, "QMP input object member '%s' is unexpected",
-                           key);
+                error_setg(errp, "Parameter '%s' is unexpected", key);
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/tests/test-qga.c b/tests/test-qga.c
index 868b02a40f..ae97b575c1 100644
--- a/tests/test-qga.c
+++ b/tests/test-qga.c
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ static void test_qga_invalid_args(gconstpointer fix)
     desc = qdict_get_try_str(error, "desc");
 
     g_assert_cmpstr(class, ==, "GenericError");
-    g_assert_cmpstr(desc, ==, "QMP input object member 'foo' is unexpected");
+    g_assert_cmpstr(desc, ==, "Parameter 'foo' is unexpected");
 
     QDECREF(ret);
 }