diff --git a/cmd/restic/cmd_backup.go b/cmd/restic/cmd_backup.go
index 4890f82ff..e5369f7b9 100644
--- a/cmd/restic/cmd_backup.go
+++ b/cmd/restic/cmd_backup.go
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ func init() {
 	f.StringVar(&backupOptions.Parent, "parent", "", "use this parent `snapshot` (default: latest snapshot in the group determined by --group-by and not newer than the timestamp determined by --time)")
 	backupOptions.GroupBy = restic.SnapshotGroupByOptions{Host: true, Path: true}
 	f.VarP(&backupOptions.GroupBy, "group-by", "g", "`group` snapshots by host, paths and/or tags, separated by comma (disable grouping with '')")
-	f.BoolVarP(&backupOptions.Force, "force", "f", false, `force re-reading the target files/directories (overrides the "parent" flag)`)
+	f.BoolVarP(&backupOptions.Force, "force", "f", false, `force re-reading the source files/directories (overrides the "parent" flag)`)
 
 	initExcludePatternOptions(f, &backupOptions.excludePatternOptions)
 
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ func filterExisting(items []string) (result []string, err error) {
 	}
 
 	if len(result) == 0 {
-		return nil, errors.Fatal("all target directories/files do not exist")
+		return nil, errors.Fatal("all source directories/files do not exist")
 	}
 
 	return
@@ -403,7 +403,7 @@ func collectTargets(opts BackupOptions, args []string) (targets []string, err er
 	// and have the ability to use both files-from and args at the same time.
 	targets = append(targets, args...)
 	if len(targets) == 0 && !opts.Stdin {
-		return nil, errors.Fatal("nothing to backup, please specify target files/dirs")
+		return nil, errors.Fatal("nothing to backup, please specify source files/dirs")
 	}
 
 	targets, err = filterExisting(targets)
diff --git a/doc/faq.rst b/doc/faq.rst
index 8e56b5d9e..19879d817 100644
--- a/doc/faq.rst
+++ b/doc/faq.rst
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ Restic handles globbing and expansion in the following ways:
 -  Globbing is only expanded for lines read via ``--files-from``
 -  Environment variables are not expanded in the file read via ``--files-from``
 -  ``*`` is expanded for paths read via ``--files-from``
--  e.g. For backup targets given to restic as arguments on the shell, neither glob expansion nor shell variable replacement is done. If restic is called as ``restic backup '*' '$HOME'``, it will try to backup the literal file(s)/dir(s) ``*`` and ``$HOME``
+-  e.g. For backup sources given to restic as arguments on the shell, neither glob expansion nor shell variable replacement is done. If restic is called as ``restic backup '*' '$HOME'``, it will try to backup the literal file(s)/dir(s) ``*`` and ``$HOME``
 -  Double-asterisk ``**`` only works in exclude patterns as this is a custom extension built into restic; the shell must not expand it