diff --git a/Doc/library/basehttpserver.rst b/Doc/library/basehttpserver.rst
index 98b5ce4565e..e5a9ebb16e5 100644
--- a/Doc/library/basehttpserver.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/basehttpserver.rst
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ to a handler.  Code to create and run the server looks like this::
       to create custom error logging mechanisms. The *format* argument is a
       standard printf-style format string, where the additional arguments to
       :meth:`log_message` are applied as inputs to the formatting. The client
-      address and current date and time are prefixed to every message logged.
+      ip address and current date and time are prefixed to every message logged.
 
 
    .. method:: version_string()
diff --git a/Lib/BaseHTTPServer.py b/Lib/BaseHTTPServer.py
index 1a39485e161..deaf2f960b8 100644
--- a/Lib/BaseHTTPServer.py
+++ b/Lib/BaseHTTPServer.py
@@ -447,13 +447,13 @@ def log_message(self, format, *args):
         specified as subsequent arguments (it's just like
         printf!).
 
-        The client host and current date/time are prefixed to
-        every message.
+        The client ip address and current date/time are prefixed to every
+        message.
 
         """
 
         sys.stderr.write("%s - - [%s] %s\n" %
-                         (self.address_string(),
+                         (self.client_address[0],
                           self.log_date_time_string(),
                           format%args))