diff --git a/packages/babel-parser/src/parser/expression.js b/packages/babel-parser/src/parser/expression.js
index eced2772f032..89913e07e517 100644
--- a/packages/babel-parser/src/parser/expression.js
+++ b/packages/babel-parser/src/parser/expression.js
@@ -2040,7 +2040,7 @@ export default class ExpressionParser extends LValParser {
         // sequence expression.
         throw this.raise(
           leftStartPos,
-          `Pipeline head may not be a comma-separated sequence expression`,
+          `Pipeline head should not be a comma-separated sequence expression`,
         );
       }
     }
diff --git a/packages/babel-parser/test/fixtures/experimental/pipeline-operator/proposal-smart-error,-bare-style,-head-with-topic-reference-pair/options.json b/packages/babel-parser/test/fixtures/experimental/pipeline-operator/proposal-smart-error,-bare-style,-head-with-topic-reference-pair/options.json
index c785202f2a0c..cc2c16a778e7 100644
--- a/packages/babel-parser/test/fixtures/experimental/pipeline-operator/proposal-smart-error,-bare-style,-head-with-topic-reference-pair/options.json
+++ b/packages/babel-parser/test/fixtures/experimental/pipeline-operator/proposal-smart-error,-bare-style,-head-with-topic-reference-pair/options.json
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 {
   "plugins": [["pipelineOperator", { "proposal": "smart" }]],
-  "throws": "Pipeline head may not be a comma-separated sequence expression (1:0)"
+  "throws": "Pipeline head should not be a comma-separated sequence expression (1:0)"
 }