diff --git a/jiracli/templates.go b/jiracli/templates.go
index c4b35e41..6f7e9104 100644
--- a/jiracli/templates.go
+++ b/jiracli/templates.go
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ func TemplateProcessor() *template.Template {
 			return strings.Join(vals, sep)
 		},
 		"abbrev": func(max int, content string) string {
-			if len(content) > max {
+			if len(content) > max && max > 2 {
 				var buffer bytes.Buffer
 				buffer.WriteString(content[:max-3])
 				buffer.WriteString("...")