diff --git a/django/core/management/commands/dumpdata.py b/django/core/management/commands/dumpdata.py
index 706bf601f9..501c494c2b 100644
--- a/django/core/management/commands/dumpdata.py
+++ b/django/core/management/commands/dumpdata.py
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
         make_option('--indent', default=None, dest='indent', type='int',
             help='Specifies the indent level to use when pretty-printing output'),
         make_option('--database', action='store', dest='database',
-            default=DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS, help='Nominates a specific database to load '
-                'fixtures into. Defaults to the "default" database.'),
+            default=DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS, help='Nominates a specific database to dump '
+                'fixtures from. Defaults to the "default" database.'),
         make_option('-e', '--exclude', dest='exclude',action='append', default=[],
             help='An appname or appname.ModelName to exclude (use multiple --exclude to exclude multiple apps/models).'),
         make_option('-n', '--natural', action='store_true', dest='use_natural_keys', default=False,