diff --git a/coreutils/date.c b/coreutils/date.c
index a230fe2..51200e6 100644
--- a/coreutils/date.c
+++ b/coreutils/date.c
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@
 
 		/* if setting time, set it */
 		if ((opt & OPT_SET) && stime(&tm) < 0) {
-			bb_perror_msg("cannot set date");
+			bb_perror_msg("can't set date");
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/coreutils/id.c b/coreutils/id.c
index 6022c9f..ec9227d0 100644
--- a/coreutils/id.c
+++ b/coreutils/id.c
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@
 			}
 		} else if (n < 0) { /* error in get_groups() */
 			if (!ENABLE_DESKTOP)
-				bb_error_msg_and_die("cannot get groups");
+				bb_error_msg_and_die("can't get groups");
 			else
 				return EXIT_FAILURE;
 		}
diff --git a/coreutils/libcoreutils/cp_mv_stat.c b/coreutils/libcoreutils/cp_mv_stat.c
index 0fd467c..5ba07ec 100644
--- a/coreutils/libcoreutils/cp_mv_stat.c
+++ b/coreutils/libcoreutils/cp_mv_stat.c
@@ -29,11 +29,11 @@
 		if (errno != ENOENT) {
 #if ENABLE_FEATURE_VERBOSE_CP_MESSAGE
 			if (errno == ENOTDIR) {
-				bb_error_msg("cannot stat '%s': Path has non-directory component", fn);
+				bb_error_msg("can't stat '%s': Path has non-directory component", fn);
 				return -1;
 			}
 #endif
-			bb_perror_msg("cannot stat '%s'", fn);
+			bb_perror_msg("can't stat '%s'", fn);
 			return -1;
 		}
 		return 0;
diff --git a/coreutils/md5_sha1_sum.c b/coreutils/md5_sha1_sum.c
index a988b9c..a64026d 100644
--- a/coreutils/md5_sha1_sum.c
+++ b/coreutils/md5_sha1_sum.c
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@
 		}
 		/*
 		if (fclose_if_not_stdin(pre_computed_stream) == EOF) {
-			bb_perror_msg_and_die("cannot close file %s", file_ptr);
+			bb_perror_msg_and_die("can't close file %s", file_ptr);
 		}
 		*/
 	} else {
diff --git a/coreutils/mv.c b/coreutils/mv.c
index be10b03..1c5a467 100644
--- a/coreutils/mv.c
+++ b/coreutils/mv.c
@@ -87,10 +87,10 @@
 			if (errno != EXDEV
 			 || (source_exists = cp_mv_stat2(*argv, &source_stat, lstat)) < 1
 			) {
-				bb_perror_msg("cannot rename '%s'", *argv);
+				bb_perror_msg("can't rename '%s'", *argv);
 			} else {
 				static const char fmt[] ALIGN1 =
-					"cannot overwrite %sdirectory with %sdirectory";
+					"can't overwrite %sdirectory with %sdirectory";
 
 				if (dest_exists) {
 					if (dest_exists == 3) {
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@
 						}
 					}
 					if (unlink(dest) < 0) {
-						bb_perror_msg("cannot remove '%s'", dest);
+						bb_perror_msg("can't remove '%s'", dest);
 						goto RET_1;
 					}
 				}
diff --git a/coreutils/od_bloaty.c b/coreutils/od_bloaty.c
index 1d5769b..0c4740b 100644
--- a/coreutils/od_bloaty.c
+++ b/coreutils/od_bloaty.c
@@ -807,7 +807,7 @@
 	}
 
 	if (n_skip)
-		bb_error_msg_and_die("cannot skip past end of combined input");
+		bb_error_msg_and_die("can't skip past end of combined input");
 }
 
 
diff --git a/coreutils/rm.c b/coreutils/rm.c
index 6b3fbcf..3090cc3 100644
--- a/coreutils/rm.c
+++ b/coreutils/rm.c
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@
 			const char *base = bb_get_last_path_component_strip(*argv);
 
 			if (DOT_OR_DOTDOT(base)) {
-				bb_error_msg("cannot remove '.' or '..'");
+				bb_error_msg("can't remove '.' or '..'");
 			} else if (remove_file(*argv, flags) >= 0) {
 				continue;
 			}
diff --git a/coreutils/stat.c b/coreutils/stat.c
index 44a03e5..2bc9a08 100644
--- a/coreutils/stat.c
+++ b/coreutils/stat.c
@@ -383,7 +383,7 @@
 	}
 #endif
 	if (statfs(filename, &statfsbuf) != 0) {
-		bb_perror_msg("cannot read file system information for '%s'", filename);
+		bb_perror_msg("can't read file system information for '%s'", filename);
 		return 0;
 	}
 
@@ -495,7 +495,7 @@
 	}
 #endif
 	if ((option_mask32 & OPT_DEREFERENCE ? stat : lstat) (filename, &statbuf) != 0) {
-		bb_perror_msg("cannot stat '%s'", filename);
+		bb_perror_msg("can't stat '%s'", filename);
 		return 0;
 	}