diff --git a/Lib/test/test_codeccallbacks.py b/Lib/test/test_codeccallbacks.py
index 31604ff..77834c4 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_codeccallbacks.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_codeccallbacks.py
@@ -329,7 +329,7 @@
         self.check_exceptionobjectargs(
             UnicodeEncodeError,
             ["ascii", "g\xfcrk", 1, 2, "ouch"],
-            "'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\\xfc' in position 1: ouch"
+            "'ascii' codec can't encode character '\\xfc' in position 1: ouch"
         )
         self.check_exceptionobjectargs(
             UnicodeEncodeError,
@@ -339,23 +339,23 @@
         self.check_exceptionobjectargs(
             UnicodeEncodeError,
             ["ascii", "\xfcx", 0, 1, "ouch"],
-            "'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\\xfc' in position 0: ouch"
+            "'ascii' codec can't encode character '\\xfc' in position 0: ouch"
         )
         self.check_exceptionobjectargs(
             UnicodeEncodeError,
             ["ascii", "\u0100x", 0, 1, "ouch"],
-            "'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\\u0100' in position 0: ouch"
+            "'ascii' codec can't encode character '\\u0100' in position 0: ouch"
         )
         self.check_exceptionobjectargs(
             UnicodeEncodeError,
             ["ascii", "\uffffx", 0, 1, "ouch"],
-            "'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\\uffff' in position 0: ouch"
+            "'ascii' codec can't encode character '\\uffff' in position 0: ouch"
         )
         if sys.maxunicode > 0xffff:
             self.check_exceptionobjectargs(
                 UnicodeEncodeError,
                 ["ascii", "\U00010000x", 0, 1, "ouch"],
-                "'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\\U00010000' in position 0: ouch"
+                "'ascii' codec can't encode character '\\U00010000' in position 0: ouch"
             )
 
     def test_unicodedecodeerror(self):
@@ -374,23 +374,23 @@
         self.check_exceptionobjectargs(
             UnicodeTranslateError,
             ["g\xfcrk", 1, 2, "ouch"],
-            "can't translate character u'\\xfc' in position 1: ouch"
+            "can't translate character '\\xfc' in position 1: ouch"
         )
         self.check_exceptionobjectargs(
             UnicodeTranslateError,
             ["g\u0100rk", 1, 2, "ouch"],
-            "can't translate character u'\\u0100' in position 1: ouch"
+            "can't translate character '\\u0100' in position 1: ouch"
         )
         self.check_exceptionobjectargs(
             UnicodeTranslateError,
             ["g\uffffrk", 1, 2, "ouch"],
-            "can't translate character u'\\uffff' in position 1: ouch"
+            "can't translate character '\\uffff' in position 1: ouch"
         )
         if sys.maxunicode > 0xffff:
             self.check_exceptionobjectargs(
                 UnicodeTranslateError,
                 ["g\U00010000rk", 1, 2, "ouch"],
-                "can't translate character u'\\U00010000' in position 1: ouch"
+                "can't translate character '\\U00010000' in position 1: ouch"
             )
         self.check_exceptionobjectargs(
             UnicodeTranslateError,
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_codecs.py b/Lib/test/test_codecs.py
index 7a679b6..666f0df 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_codecs.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_codecs.py
@@ -459,10 +459,10 @@
                 "",
                 "\ufeff", # Second BOM has been read and emitted
                 "\ufeff\x00", # "\x00" read and emitted
-                "\ufeff\x00", # First byte of encoded u"\xff" read
-                "\ufeff\x00\xff", # Second byte of encoded u"\xff" read
-                "\ufeff\x00\xff", # First byte of encoded u"\u07ff" read
-                "\ufeff\x00\xff\u07ff", # Second byte of encoded u"\u07ff" read
+                "\ufeff\x00", # First byte of encoded "\xff" read
+                "\ufeff\x00\xff", # Second byte of encoded "\xff" read
+                "\ufeff\x00\xff", # First byte of encoded "\u07ff" read
+                "\ufeff\x00\xff\u07ff", # Second byte of encoded "\u07ff" read
                 "\ufeff\x00\xff\u07ff",
                 "\ufeff\x00\xff\u07ff",
                 "\ufeff\x00\xff\u07ff\u0800",
diff --git a/Objects/exceptions.c b/Objects/exceptions.c
index 8d1ee2a..1df0ea0 100644
--- a/Objects/exceptions.c
+++ b/Objects/exceptions.c
@@ -1289,11 +1289,11 @@
         int badchar = (int)PyUnicode_AS_UNICODE(uself->object)[uself->start];
         const char *fmt;
         if (badchar <= 0xff)
-            fmt = "'%U' codec can't encode character u'\\x%02x' in position %zd: %U";
+            fmt = "'%U' codec can't encode character '\\x%02x' in position %zd: %U";
         else if (badchar <= 0xffff)
-            fmt = "'%U' codec can't encode character u'\\u%04x' in position %zd: %U";
+            fmt = "'%U' codec can't encode character '\\u%04x' in position %zd: %U";
         else
-            fmt = "'%U' codec can't encode character u'\\U%08x' in position %zd: %U";
+            fmt = "'%U' codec can't encode character '\\U%08x' in position %zd: %U";
         return PyUnicode_FromFormat(
             fmt,
             ((PyUnicodeErrorObject *)self)->encoding,
@@ -1440,11 +1440,11 @@
         int badchar = (int)PyUnicode_AS_UNICODE(uself->object)[uself->start];
         const char *fmt;
         if (badchar <= 0xff)
-            fmt = "can't translate character u'\\x%02x' in position %zd: %U";
+            fmt = "can't translate character '\\x%02x' in position %zd: %U";
         else if (badchar <= 0xffff)
-            fmt = "can't translate character u'\\u%04x' in position %zd: %U";
+            fmt = "can't translate character '\\u%04x' in position %zd: %U";
         else
-            fmt = "can't translate character u'\\U%08x' in position %zd: %U";
+            fmt = "can't translate character '\\U%08x' in position %zd: %U";
         return PyUnicode_FromFormat(
             fmt,
             badchar,