diff --git a/docs/topics/http/middleware.txt b/docs/topics/http/middleware.txt
index a768a3bbd8..fe92bc59a9 100644
--- a/docs/topics/http/middleware.txt
+++ b/docs/topics/http/middleware.txt
@@ -199,7 +199,8 @@ of caveats:
   define ``__init__`` as requiring any arguments.
 
 * Unlike the ``process_*`` methods which get called once per request,
-  ``__init__`` gets called only *once*, when the Web server starts up.
+  ``__init__`` gets called only *once*, when the Web server responds to the
+  first request.
 
 Marking middleware as unused
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~