diff --git a/docs/usage.md b/docs/usage.md
index ae196e42..11c3d3d3 100644
--- a/docs/usage.md
+++ b/docs/usage.md
@@ -136,9 +136,9 @@ It is possible to end up with an unusable system, for example by having no
 way to do a mouse left click, so exercise caution when remapping keys or
 buttons that are needed to operate your system.
 
-## Solaar command line interface
+## Solaar command-line interface
 
-Solaar also has a command line interface that can do most of what can be
+Solaar also has a command-line interface that can do most of what can be
 done using the main window. For more information on the
 command line interface, run `solaar --help` to see the commands and
 then `solaar <command> --help` to see the arguments to any of the commands.
diff --git a/lib/solaar/cli/__init__.py b/lib/solaar/cli/__init__.py
index fd348b85..927b871c 100644
--- a/lib/solaar/cli/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/solaar/cli/__init__.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ def _create_parser():
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
         prog=NAME.lower(), add_help=False, epilog=f"For details on individual actions, run `{NAME.lower()} <action> --help`."
     )
-    subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(title="actions", help="optional action to perform")
+    subparsers = parser.add_subparsers(title="actions", help="command-line action to perform")
 
     sp = subparsers.add_parser("show", help="show information about devices")
     sp.add_argument(
diff --git a/lib/solaar/gtk.py b/lib/solaar/gtk.py
index 037cff40..4641bcc6 100755
--- a/lib/solaar/gtk.py
+++ b/lib/solaar/gtk.py
@@ -84,8 +84,13 @@ def _parse_arguments():
     )
     arg_parser.add_argument("--tray-icon-size", type=int, help="explicit size for tray icons")
     arg_parser.add_argument("-V", "--version", action="version", version="%(prog)s " + __version__)
-    arg_parser.add_argument("--help-actions", action="store_true", help="print help for the optional actions")
-    arg_parser.add_argument("action", nargs=argparse.REMAINDER, choices=cli.actions, help="optional actions to perform")
+    arg_parser.add_argument("--help-actions", action="store_true", help="describe the command-line actions")
+    arg_parser.add_argument(
+        "action",
+        nargs=argparse.REMAINDER,
+        choices=cli.actions,
+        help="command-line action to perform (optional); append ' --help' to show args",
+    )
 
     args = arg_parser.parse_args()