diff --git a/channels/irc/src/main.rs b/channels/irc/src/main.rs
index 27aae5d..4b20284 100644
--- a/channels/irc/src/main.rs
+++ b/channels/irc/src/main.rs
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@ impl State {
                 while i > 0 && !remaining.is_char_boundary(i) { i -= 1; }
                 // To avoid splitting mid-word, see if there was a space recently
                 let mut j = i;
-                while j > 0 && j > i-10 && remaining.as_bytes()[j] != b' ' { j -= 1; }
+                while j > 1 && j > i-10 && remaining.as_bytes()[j] != b' ' { j -= 1; }
                 if remaining.as_bytes()[j] == b' ' { j }
                 else if i == 0 { max_msg } else { i }
             };