diff --git a/doc/docchecker b/doc/docchecker
--- a/doc/docchecker
+++ b/doc/docchecker
@@ -11,11 +11,15 @@ import re
 
 leadingline = re.compile(r'(^\s*)(\S.*)$')
 hg_backtick = re.compile(r""":hg:`[^`]*'[^`]*`""")
+hg_cramped = re.compile(r'\w:hg:`')
 
 def check(line):
   if hg_backtick.search(line):
     print(line)
     print("""warning: please avoid nesting ' in :hg:`...`""")
+  if hg_cramped.search(line):
+    print(line)
+    print('warning: please have a space before :hg:')
 
 def work(file):
   (llead, lline) = ('', '')
diff --git a/tests/test-gendoc.t b/tests/test-gendoc.t
--- a/tests/test-gendoc.t
+++ b/tests/test-gendoc.t
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ Test document extraction
   
   % extracting documentation from de
   checking for parse errors
+  Die Dateien werden dem Projektarchiv beim n\xc3\xa4chsten \xc3\x9cbernehmen (commit) hinzugef\xc3\xbcgt. Um dies vorher r\xc3\xbcckg\xc3\xa4ngig zu machen, siehe:hg:`forget`. (esc)
+  warning: please have a space before :hg:
   
   % extracting documentation from el
   checking for parse errors