diff --git a/pkg/api/pod/util.go b/pkg/api/pod/util.go
index 3243360fd1d..06948894247 100644
--- a/pkg/api/pod/util.go
+++ b/pkg/api/pod/util.go
@@ -425,6 +425,10 @@ func GetValidationOptionsFromPodSpecAndMeta(podSpec, oldPodSpec *api.PodSpec, po
 }
 
 func useRelaxedEnvironmentVariableValidation(podSpec, oldPodSpec *api.PodSpec) bool {
+	if utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.RelaxedEnvironmentVariableValidation) {
+		return true
+	}
+
 	var oldPodEnvVarNames, podEnvVarNames sets.Set[string]
 	if oldPodSpec != nil {
 		oldPodEnvVarNames = gatherPodEnvVarNames(oldPodSpec)
@@ -435,7 +439,7 @@ func useRelaxedEnvironmentVariableValidation(podSpec, oldPodSpec *api.PodSpec) b
 	}
 
 	for env := range podEnvVarNames {
-		if utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.RelaxedEnvironmentVariableValidation) || relaxedEnvVarUsed(env, oldPodEnvVarNames) {
+		if relaxedEnvVarUsed(env, oldPodEnvVarNames) {
 			return true
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/apis/core/validation/validation_test.go b/pkg/apis/core/validation/validation_test.go
index d730c575542..cda508a01da 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/core/validation/validation_test.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/core/validation/validation_test.go
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ const (
 	dnsLabelErrMsg                    = "a lowercase RFC 1123 label must consist of"
 	dnsSubdomainLabelErrMsg           = "a lowercase RFC 1123 subdomain"
 	envVarNameErrMsg                  = "a valid environment variable name must consist of"
-	relaxedEnvVarNameFmtErrMsg string = "a valid environment variable names must be printable ASCII characters other than '=' character"
+	relaxedEnvVarNameFmtErrMsg string = "a valid environment variable name must consist only of printable ASCII characters other than '='"
 	defaultGracePeriod                = int64(30)
 )
 
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/validation/validation.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/validation/validation.go
index d1da92060a5..b32644902b0 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/validation/validation.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/validation/validation.go
@@ -420,7 +420,7 @@ const envVarNameFmt = "[-._a-zA-Z][-._a-zA-Z0-9]*"
 const envVarNameFmtErrMsg string = "a valid environment variable name must consist of alphabetic characters, digits, '_', '-', or '.', and must not start with a digit"
 
 // TODO(hirazawaui): Rename this when the RelaxedEnvironmentVariableValidation gate is removed.
-const relaxedEnvVarNameFmtErrMsg string = "a valid environment variable names must be printable ASCII characters other than '=' character"
+const relaxedEnvVarNameFmtErrMsg string = "a valid environment variable name must consist only of printable ASCII characters other than '='"
 
 var envVarNameRegexp = regexp.MustCompile("^" + envVarNameFmt + "$")
 
@@ -440,7 +440,7 @@ func IsRelaxedEnvVarName(value string) []string {
 	var errs []string
 
 	if len(value) == 0 {
-		errs = append(errs, "environment variable name"+EmptyError())
+		errs = append(errs, "environment variable name "+EmptyError())
 	}
 
 	for _, r := range value {