diff --git a/icu4c/source/test/cintltst/cintltst.c b/icu4c/source/test/cintltst/cintltst.c
index f99885a8a7..e2abc3216f 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/test/cintltst/cintltst.c
+++ b/icu4c/source/test/cintltst/cintltst.c
@@ -189,9 +189,9 @@ int main(int argc, const char* const argv[])
         fprintf(stderr,
             "#### WARNING!\n"
             "  The global mutex was not initialized during C++ static initialization.\n"
-            "  You must explicitly initialize ICU by calling u_init() before using ICU in multiple threads.\n"
-            "  If you are using ICU in a single threaded application, use of u_init() is recommended,\n"
-            "  but is not required.\n"
+            "  You must explicitly initialize ICU by calling u_init() before using ICU\n"
+            "  in multiple threads. If you are using ICU in a single threaded application,\n"
+            "  use of u_init() is recommended, but it is not required.\n"
             "#### WARNING!\n"
             );
     }
diff --git a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/intltest.cpp b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/intltest.cpp
index 30a4a0af1c..a43fb50fed 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/test/intltest/intltest.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/test/intltest/intltest.cpp
@@ -1190,11 +1190,9 @@ main(int argc, char* argv[])
         fprintf(stderr,
             "#### WARNING!\n"
             "  The global mutex was not initialized during C++ static initialization.\n"
-            "  You must use an ICU API in a single thread, like ucnv_open() or\n"
-            "  uloc_countAvailable(), before using ICU in multiple threads.\n"
-            "  Most ICU API functions will initialize the global mutex for you.\n"
-            "  If you are using ICU in a single threaded application, please ignore this\n"
-            "  warning.\n"
+            "  You must explicitly initialize ICU by calling u_init() before using ICU\n"
+            "  in multiple threads. If you are using ICU in a single threaded application,\n"
+            "  use of u_init() is recommended, but it is not required.\n"
             "#### WARNING!\n"
             );
     }