diff --git a/translate.go b/translate.go
index 09eed00b2..00f11723e 100644
--- a/translate.go
+++ b/translate.go
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ var (
 	ErrTranslateStoreClosed       = errors.New("pilosa: translate store closed")
 	ErrTranslateStoreReaderClosed = errors.New("pilosa: translate store reader closed")
 	ErrReplicationNotSupported    = errors.New("pilosa: replication not supported")
-	ErrTranslateStoreReadOnly     = errors.New("pilosa: operation not supported, translate store read only")
+	ErrTranslateStoreReadOnly     = errors.New("pilosa: translate store could not find or create key, translate store read only")
 )
 
 // TranslateStore is the storage for translation string-to-uint64 values.