diff --git a/include/asterisk/cli.h b/include/asterisk/cli.h
index 4f5d882de9..6b8308e755 100644
--- a/include/asterisk/cli.h
+++ b/include/asterisk/cli.h
@@ -48,6 +48,13 @@ void ast_cli(int fd, char *fmt, ...)
 
 #define AST_CLI_COMPLETE_EOF	"_EOF_"
 
+/*!
+ * In many cases we need to print singular or plural
+ * words depending on a count. This macro helps us e.g.
+ *     printf("we have %d object%s", n, ESS(n));
+ */
+#define ESS(x) ((x) == 1 ? "" : "s")
+
 /*! \page CLI_command_api CLI command API
 
    CLI commands are described by a struct ast_cli_entry that contains
diff --git a/main/cli.c b/main/cli.c
index fdde50fff2..09f848cdba 100644
--- a/main/cli.c
+++ b/main/cli.c
@@ -341,7 +341,6 @@ static void print_uptimestr(int fd, time_t timeval, const char *prefix, int prin
 #define DAY (HOUR*24)
 #define WEEK (DAY*7)
 #define YEAR (DAY*365)
-#define ESS(x) ((x == 1) ? "" : "s")	/* plural suffix */
 #define NEEDCOMMA(x) ((x)? ",": "")	/* define if we need a comma */
 	if (timeval < 0)	/* invalid, nothing to show */
 		return;
@@ -938,7 +937,7 @@ static int group_show_channels(int fd, int argc, char *argv[])
 	if (havepattern)
 		regfree(&regexbuf);
 
-	ast_cli(fd, "%d active channel%s\n", numchans, (numchans != 1) ? "s" : "");
+	ast_cli(fd, "%d active channel%s\n", numchans, ESS(numchans));
 	return RESULT_SUCCESS;
 #undef FORMAT_STRING
 }