diff --git a/code/game/say.dm b/code/game/say.dm
index 4a361b2461..3cce5bcfc1 100644
--- a/code/game/say.dm
+++ b/code/game/say.dm
@@ -97,11 +97,11 @@ GLOBAL_LIST_INIT(freqtospan, list(
 	// Citadel edit [spanned ? ", \"[spanned]\"" : ""]"
 
 /atom/movable/proc/say_emphasis(input)
-	var/static/regex/italics = regex("|(\\b.*?\\b)|", "g")
+	var/static/regex/italics = regex("\\|(?=\\S)(.*?)(?=\\S)\\|", "g")
 	input = replacetext_char(input, italics, "<i>$1</i>")
-	var/static/regex/bold = regex("+(\\b.*?\\b)+", "g")
+	var/static/regex/bold = regex("\+(?=\S)(.*?)(?=\S)\+", "g")
 	input = replacetext_char(input, bold, "<b>$1</b>")
-	var/static/regex/underline = regex("_(\\B.*?\\B)_", "g")
+	var/static/regex/underline = regex("_+(?=\S)(.*?)(?=\S)\_", "g")
 	input = replacetext_char(input, underline, "<u>$1</u>")
 	return input