diff --git a/pkg/fish-completions/salt_common.fish b/pkg/fish-completions/salt_common.fish
index ad5b04da060..80d5da721c1 100644
--- a/pkg/fish-completions/salt_common.fish
+++ b/pkg/fish-completions/salt_common.fish
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ set -l salt_programs_select salt salt-cp
 for program in $salt_programs_select
 	complete -c $program     -f -s G -l grain                -d "Instead of using shell globs to evaluate the target use a grain value to identify targets, the syntax for the target is the grain key followed by a globexpression: \"os:Arch*\""
 	complete -c $program     -f      -l grain-pcre           -d "Instead of using shell globs to evaluate the target use a grain value to identify targets, the syntax for the target is the grain key followed by a pcre regular expression: \"os:Arch.*\""
-	complete -c $program     -f -s L -l list                 -d "Instead of using shell globs to evaluate the target servers, take a comma or space delimited list of servers."
+	complete -c $program     -f -s L -l list                 -d "Instead of using shell globs to evaluate the target servers, take a comma or whitespace delimited list of servers."
 	complete -c $program     -f -s N -l nodegroup            -d "Instead of using shell globs to evaluate the target use one of the predefined nodegroups to identify a list of targets."
 	complete -c $program     -f -s E -l pcre                 -d "Instead of using shell globs to evaluate the target servers, use pcre regular expressions"
 	complete -c $program     -f -s R -l range                -d "Instead of using shell globs to evaluate the target use a range expression to identify targets. Range expressions look like %cluster"
diff --git a/pkg/zsh_completion.zsh b/pkg/zsh_completion.zsh
index fdb109efaee..26ac17dd6a7 100644
--- a/pkg/zsh_completion.zsh
+++ b/pkg/zsh_completion.zsh
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ _target_opt_pat=(
 
 _target_options=(
     "$_target_opt_pat[2]"{-E,--pcre}'[use pcre regular expressions]:pcre:'
-    "$_target_opt_pat[2]"{-L,--list}'[take a comma or space delimited list of servers.]:list:'
+    "$_target_opt_pat[2]"{-L,--list}'[take a comma or whitespace delimited list of servers.]:list:'
     "$_target_opt_pat[2]"{-G,--grain}'[use a grain value to identify targets]:Grains:'
     "$_target_opt_pat[2]--grain-pcre[use a grain value to identify targets.]:pcre:"
     "$_target_opt_pat[2]"{-N,--nodegroup}'[use one of the predefined nodegroups to identify a list of targets.]:Nodegroup:'
diff --git a/salt/utils/parsers.py b/salt/utils/parsers.py
index 7e46c7789a1..8113b80f8cf 100644
--- a/salt/utils/parsers.py
+++ b/salt/utils/parsers.py
@@ -1088,7 +1088,7 @@ class TargetOptionsMixIn(six.with_metaclass(MixInMeta, object)):
             default=False,
             action='store_true',
             help=('Instead of using shell globs to evaluate the target '
-                  'servers, take a comma or space delimited list of '
+                  'servers, take a comma or whitespace delimited list of '
                   'servers.')
         )
         group.add_option(