diff --git a/src/callbacks.py b/src/callbacks.py
index c93f635f4..3f66232c3 100644
--- a/src/callbacks.py
+++ b/src/callbacks.py
@@ -941,8 +941,7 @@ class NestedCommandsIrcProxy(ReplyIrcProxy):
                                   stripCtcp=stripCtcp)
                         sendMsg(m)
                         return m
-                    msgs = ircutils.wrap(s, allowedLength,
-                            break_long_words=True)
+                    msgs = ircutils.wrap(s, allowedLength)
                     msgs.reverse()
                     instant = conf.get(conf.supybot.reply.mores.instant,target)
                     while instant > 1 and msgs:
diff --git a/src/ircutils.py b/src/ircutils.py
index 93fa8f5ee..bc5f7a0a4 100644
--- a/src/ircutils.py
+++ b/src/ircutils.py
@@ -596,10 +596,9 @@ class FormatParser(object):
         else:
             self.ungetChar(c)
 
-def wrap(s, length, break_on_hyphens = False, break_long_words = False):
+def wrap(s, length, break_on_hyphens = False):
     processed = []
-    chunks = utils.str.byteTextWrap(s, length,
-            break_long_words=break_long_words)
+    chunks = utils.str.byteTextWrap(s, length)
     context = None
     for chunk in chunks:
         if context is not None:
diff --git a/src/utils/str.py b/src/utils/str.py
index 142a950df..0429113da 100644
--- a/src/utils/str.py
+++ b/src/utils/str.py
@@ -306,7 +306,21 @@ def perlVariableSubstitute(vars, text):
                 return '$' + unbraced
     return _perlVarSubstituteRe.sub(replacer, text)
 
-def byteTextWrap(text, size, break_on_hyphens=False, break_long_words=True):
+def splitBytes(word, size):
+    # I'm going to hell for this function
+    for i in range(4): # a character takes at most 4 bytes in UTF-8
+        try:
+            if sys.version_info[0] >= 3:
+                word[size-i:].decode()
+            else:
+                word[size-i:].encode('utf8')
+        except UnicodeDecodeError:
+            continue
+        else:
+            return (word[0:size-i], word[size-i:])
+    assert False, (word, size)
+
+def byteTextWrap(text, size, break_on_hyphens=False):
     """Similar to textwrap.wrap(), but considers the size of strings (in bytes)
     instead of their length (in characters)."""
     try:
@@ -320,8 +334,9 @@ def byteTextWrap(text, size, break_on_hyphens=False, break_long_words=True):
     while words:
         word = words.pop(-1)
         if len(word) > size:
-            words.append(word[size:])
-            word = word[0:size]
+            (before, after) = splitBytes(word, size)
+            words.append(after)
+            word = before
         if len(lines[-1]) + len(word) <= size:
             lines[-1] += word
         else:
diff --git a/test/test_ircutils.py b/test/test_ircutils.py
index ee14f30f7..78cc5ab40 100644
--- a/test/test_ircutils.py
+++ b/test/test_ircutils.py
@@ -222,9 +222,10 @@ class FunctionsTestCase(SupyTestCase):
         self.assertEqual(''.join(r), s)
 
         s = uchr(233)*500
-        print(repr(ircutils.wrap(s, 500)))
-        import supybot.utils.str
-        print(repr(supybot.utils.str.byteTextWrap(s, 500)))
+        r = ircutils.wrap(s, 500)
+        self.assertTrue(max(map(pred, r)) <= 500)
+        r = ircutils.wrap(s, 139)
+        self.assertTrue(max(map(pred, r)) <= 139)
 
 
     def testSafeArgument(self):