diff --git a/lib/utils/mu-sexp-parser.cc b/lib/utils/mu-sexp-parser.cc
index 179659e4..bb1dfa4f 100644
--- a/lib/utils/mu-sexp-parser.cc
+++ b/lib/utils/mu-sexp-parser.cc
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ parsing_error(size_t pos, const char* frm, ...)
         if (pos == 0)
                 return Mu::Error(Error::Code::Parsing, "%s", msg.c_str());
         else
-                return Mu::Error(Error::Code::Parsing, "%zu: %s", msg.c_str());
+                return Mu::Error(Error::Code::Parsing, "%zu: %s", pos, msg.c_str());
 }
 static size_t
 skip_whitespace (const std::string& s, size_t pos)
diff --git a/lib/utils/mu-utils.hh b/lib/utils/mu-utils.hh
index d20d3ad6..30cd1186 100644
--- a/lib/utils/mu-utils.hh
+++ b/lib/utils/mu-utils.hh
@@ -106,13 +106,15 @@ std::string quoted (const std::string& str);
 
 
 /**
- * Convert an ISO date to the corresponding time expressed as a string
- * with a 10-digit time_t
+ * Convert an date to the corresponding time expressed as a string with a
+ * 10-digit time_t
  *
- * @param date
- * @param first
+ * @param date the date expressed a YYYYMMDDHHMMSS or any n... of the first
+ * characters.
+ * @param first whether to fill out incomplete dates to the start or the end;
+ * ie. either 1972 -> 197201010000 or 1972 -> 197212312359
  *
- * @return
+ * @return the corresponding time_t expressed as a strng
  */
 std::string date_to_time_t_string (const std::string& date, bool first);