diff --git a/src/editor/wordproc.c b/src/editor/wordproc.c
index 8c42ce962..db5a231ee 100644
--- a/src/editor/wordproc.c
+++ b/src/editor/wordproc.c
@@ -316,7 +316,6 @@ word_start (unsigned char *t, off_t q, off_t size)
             return (-1);
         if (c == ' ' || c == '\t')
             return i;
-        i--;
     }
 }