diff --git a/src/python/pants/bin/pants_loader.py b/src/python/pants/bin/pants_loader.py
index d9f6c704ae2..cc1586de9c4 100644
--- a/src/python/pants/bin/pants_loader.py
+++ b/src/python/pants/bin/pants_loader.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import os
 import warnings
 from builtins import object
+from textwrap import dedent
 
 
 class PantsLoader(object):
@@ -37,14 +38,18 @@ def ensure_locale(cls):
     # libraries called by Pants may fail with more obscure errors.
     encoding = locale.getpreferredencoding()
     if encoding.lower() != 'utf-8' and os.environ.get(cls.ENCODING_IGNORE_ENV_VAR, None) is None:
-      raise cls.InvalidLocaleError(
-        'System preferred encoding is `{}`, but `UTF-8` is required.\n'
-        'Check and set the LC_* and LANG environment settings. Example:\n'
-        '  LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8\n'
-        '  LANG=en_US.UTF-8\n'
-        'To bypass this error, please file an issue and then set:\n'
-        '  {}=1'.format(encoding, cls.ENCODING_IGNORE_ENV_VAR)
-      )
+      raise cls.InvalidLocaleError(dedent("""\
+        Your system's preferred encoding is `{}`, but Pants requires `UTF-8`.
+        Specifically, Python's `locale.getpreferredencoding()` must resolve to `UTF-8`.
+
+        Fix it by setting the LC_* and LANG environment settings. Example:
+          LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
+          LANG=en_US.UTF-8
+        Or, bypass it by setting the below environment variable. 
+          {}=1
+        Note: we cannot guarantee consistent behavior with this bypass enabled.
+        """.format(encoding, cls.ENCODING_IGNORE_ENV_VAR)
+      ))
 
   @staticmethod
   def determine_entrypoint(env_var, default):
diff --git a/tests/python/pants_test/bin/test_loader_integration.py b/tests/python/pants_test/bin/test_loader_integration.py
index 03445043aa2..96e10807947 100644
--- a/tests/python/pants_test/bin/test_loader_integration.py
+++ b/tests/python/pants_test/bin/test_loader_integration.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ def test_invalid_locale(self):
     bypass_env = PantsLoader.ENCODING_IGNORE_ENV_VAR
     pants_run = self.run_pants(command=['help'], extra_env={'LC_ALL': 'iNvALiD-lOcALe'})
     self.assert_failure(pants_run)
-    self.assertIn('System preferred encoding is', pants_run.stderr_data)
+    self.assertIn('Pants requires', pants_run.stderr_data)
     self.assertIn(bypass_env, pants_run.stderr_data)
 
     pants_run = self.run_pants(command=['help'], extra_env={'LC_ALL': 'iNvALiD-lOcALe',