diff --git a/Lib/functools.py b/Lib/functools.py
--- a/Lib/functools.py
+++ b/Lib/functools.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
-"""functools.py - Tools for working with functions and callable objects
-"""
+"""Tools for working with functions and callable objects"""
 # Python module wrapper for _functools C module
 # to allow utilities written in Python to be added
 # to the functools module.
@@ -16,8 +15,8 @@ WRAPPER_ASSIGNMENTS = ('__module__', '__
 WRAPPER_UPDATES = ('__dict__',)
 def update_wrapper(wrapper,
                    wrapped,
-                   assigned = WRAPPER_ASSIGNMENTS,
-                   updated = WRAPPER_UPDATES):
+                   assigned=WRAPPER_ASSIGNMENTS,
+                   updated=WRAPPER_UPDATES):
     """Update a wrapper function to look like the wrapped function
 
        wrapper is the function to be updated
@@ -37,8 +36,8 @@ def update_wrapper(wrapper,
     return wrapper
 
 def wraps(wrapped,
-          assigned = WRAPPER_ASSIGNMENTS,
-          updated = WRAPPER_UPDATES):
+          assigned=WRAPPER_ASSIGNMENTS,
+          updated=WRAPPER_UPDATES):
     """Decorator factory to apply update_wrapper() to a wrapper function
 
        Returns a decorator that invokes update_wrapper() with the decorated
@@ -51,7 +50,7 @@ def wraps(wrapped,
                    assigned=assigned, updated=updated)
 
 def total_ordering(cls):
-    'Class decorator that fills-in missing ordering methods'
+    """Class decorator that fills in missing ordering methods"""
     convert = {
         '__lt__': [('__gt__', lambda self, other: other < self),
                    ('__le__', lambda self, other: not other < self),
@@ -78,7 +77,7 @@ def total_ordering(cls):
     return cls
 
 def cmp_to_key(mycmp):
-    'Convert a cmp= function into a key= function'
+    """Convert a cmp= function into a key= function"""
     class K(object):
         def __init__(self, obj, *args):
             self.obj = obj
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ Library
 - collections.Counter() now supports a subtract() method.
 
 - the functools module now has a total_ordering() class decorator
-  to simplify the specifyication of rich comparisons.
+  to simplify the specification of rich comparisons.
 
 - The functools module also adds cmp_to_key() as a tool to transition
   old-style comparison functions to new-style key-functions.