diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 161ab3fd..2eff8b04 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -175,6 +175,8 @@ CVS code -
   display_string()
 	- Avoid a memory corruption problem by allocating enough space
 	  for len plus a trailing multibyte character and/or tab. (DLR)
+	- Don't check for multicolumn characters if the NO_UTF8 flag
+	  isn't set. (DLR)
   nanogetstr()
 	- Rename variable def to curranswer to avoid confusion. (DLR)
 	- Only declare and use the tabbed variable if DISABLE_TABCOMP
diff --git a/src/winio.c b/src/winio.c
index 7bb7366f..58b94299 100644
--- a/src/winio.c
+++ b/src/winio.c
@@ -2287,7 +2287,7 @@ char *display_string(const char *buf, size_t start_col, size_t len, bool
 	    }
 	}
 #ifdef NANO_WIDE
-	else if (mbwidth(buf_mb) > 1) {
+	else if (!ISSET(NO_UTF8) && mbwidth(buf_mb) > 1) {
 	    converted[index++] = ' ';
 	    start_col++;