diff --git a/pkg/R/amatch.R b/pkg/R/amatch.R
index dcddfd8..718903c 100644
--- a/pkg/R/amatch.R
+++ b/pkg/R/amatch.R
@@ -60,9 +60,9 @@
 #'   
 #' @param q q-gram size, only when method is \code{'qgram'}, \code{'jaccard'},
 #'   or \code{'cosine'}.
-#' @param p Winklers penalty parameter for Jaro-Winkler distance, with
+#' @param p Winklers 'prefix' parameter for Jaro-Winkler distance, with
 #'   \eqn{0\leq p\leq0.25}. Only when method is \code{'jw'}
-#' @param bt Winkler's boost threshold. Winkler's penalty factor is
+#' @param bt Winkler's boost threshold. Winkler's prefix factor is
 #'   only applied when the Jaro distance is larger than \code{bt}.
 #'   Applies only to \code{method='jw'} and \code{p>0}.
 #'
@@ -177,9 +177,9 @@ ain <- function(x,table,...){
 #'   
 #' @param q q-gram size, only when method is \code{'qgram'}, \code{'jaccard'},
 #'   or \code{'cosine'}.
-#' @param p Winklers penalty parameter for Jaro-Winkler distance, with
+#' @param p Winkler's prefix parameter for Jaro-Winkler distance, with
 #'   \eqn{0\leq p\leq0.25}. Only when method is \code{'jw'}
-#' @param bt Winkler's boost threshold. Winkler's penalty factor is
+#' @param bt Winkler's boost threshold. Winkler's prefix factor is
 #'   only applied when the Jaro distance is larger than \code{bt}.
 #'   Applies only to \code{method='jw'} and \code{p>0}.
 #' @return \code{seq_amatch} returns the position of the closest match of \code{x}
diff --git a/pkg/R/doc_metrics.R b/pkg/R/doc_metrics.R
index c91ab99..1bab8a1 100644
--- a/pkg/R/doc_metrics.R
+++ b/pkg/R/doc_metrics.R
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@
 #' \eqn{d} is the Jaro-distance. Here,  \eqn{l} is obtained by counting, from
 #' the start of the input strings, after how many characters the first
 #' character mismatch between the two strings occurs, with a maximum of four. The
-#' factor \eqn{p} is a penalty factor, which in the work of Winkler is often
+#' factor \eqn{p} is a 'prefix' factor, which in the work of Winkler is often
 #' chosen \eqn{0.1}.
 #'
 #' For the \bold{soundex} distance (method='soundex'), strings are translated to a soundex code 
diff --git a/pkg/R/seqdist.R b/pkg/R/seqdist.R
index 1764849..c30c48a 100644
--- a/pkg/R/seqdist.R
+++ b/pkg/R/seqdist.R
@@ -24,10 +24,10 @@
 #'   \code{'Jaccard'}, or \code{'lcs'}
 #' @param q  Size of the \eqn{q}-gram; must be nonnegative. Only applies to
 #'   \code{method='qgram'}, \code{'jaccard'} or \code{'cosine'}.
-#' @param p Penalty factor for Jaro-Winkler distance. The valid range for 
+#' @param p Prefix factor for Jaro-Winkler distance. The valid range for 
 #'   \code{p} is \code{0 <= p <= 0.25}. If \code{p=0} (default), the
 #'   Jaro-distance is returned. Applies only to \code{method='jw'}.
-#' @param bt Winkler's boost threshold. Winkler's penalty factor is
+#' @param bt Winkler's boost threshold. Winkler's prefix factor is
 #'   only applied when the Jaro distance is larger than \code{bt}
 #'   Applies only to \code{method='jw'} and \code{p>0}.
 #' @param nthread Maximum number of threads to use. By default, a sensible
diff --git a/pkg/R/stringdist.R b/pkg/R/stringdist.R
index cee39a4..c3c8a7d 100644
--- a/pkg/R/stringdist.R
+++ b/pkg/R/stringdist.R
@@ -108,10 +108,10 @@ This warning can be avoided by explicitly converting the argument(s).
 #'   \code{'Jaccard'}, \code{'lcs'}, or \code{soundex}.
 #' @param q  Size of the \eqn{q}-gram; must be nonnegative. Only applies to
 #'   \code{method='qgram'}, \code{'jaccard'} or \code{'cosine'}.
-#' @param p Penalty factor for Jaro-Winkler distance. The valid range for 
+#' @param p Prefix factor for Jaro-Winkler distance. The valid range for 
 #'   \code{p} is \code{0 <= p <= 0.25}. If \code{p=0} (default), the
 #'   Jaro-distance is returned. Applies only to \code{method='jw'}.
-#' @param bt Winkler's boost threshold. Winkler's penalty factor is
+#' @param bt Winkler's boost threshold. Winkler's prefix factor is
 #'   only applied when the Jaro distance is larger than \code{bt}.
 #'   Applies only to \code{method='jw'} and \code{p>0}.
 #' @param nthread Maximum number of threads to use. By default, a sensible