diff --git a/hgext/histedit.py b/hgext/histedit.py
index 04b68ce5e9648440e6f1aecc5ece23191d85954d_aGdleHQvaGlzdGVkaXQucHk=..ffa194c3a83c8952802f789da93c884e4c4b4e09_aGdleHQvaGlzdGVkaXQucHk= 100644
--- a/hgext/histedit.py
+++ b/hgext/histedit.py
@@ -1318,10 +1318,7 @@
     if repo.ui.configbool("experimental", "histedit.autoverb"):
         for act in actions:
             ctx = repo[act.node]
-            summary = ''
-            if ctx.description():
-                summary = ctx.description().splitlines()[0]
-
+            summary = _getsummary(ctx)
             fword = summary.split(' ', 1)[0].lower()
             # if it doesn't end with the special character '!' just skip this
             if fword.endswith('!'):