diff --git a/settings.c b/settings.c
index bce2a62e..833a10d2 100644
--- a/settings.c
+++ b/settings.c
@@ -626,7 +626,7 @@ void load_settings(char *section, int do_host, Config * cfg)
     gppi(sesskey, "LoginShell", 1, &cfg->login_shell);
     gppi(sesskey, "ScrollbarOnLeft", 0, &cfg->scrollbar_on_left);
     gpps(sesskey, "BoldFont", "", cfg->boldfont, sizeof(cfg->boldfont));
-    gppi(sesskey, "ShadowBoldOffset", -1, &cfg->shadowboldoffset);
+    gppi(sesskey, "ShadowBoldOffset", 1, &cfg->shadowboldoffset);
 
     close_settings_r(sesskey);
 }
diff --git a/unix/pterm.1 b/unix/pterm.1
index 8e55e946..6d907250 100644
--- a/unix/pterm.1
+++ b/unix/pterm.1
@@ -295,12 +295,13 @@ printing it twice at a one-pixel offset).
 .IP "\fBpterm.ShadowBoldOffset\fP"
 This resource can be set to an integer; the default is -1. It
 specifies the offset at which text is overprinted when using "shadow
-bold" mode. The default (-1) means that the text will be printed in
-the normal place, and also one character to the left; this seems to
+bold" mode. The default (1) means that the text will be printed in
+the normal place, and also one character to the right; this seems to
 work well for most X bitmap fonts, which have a blank line of pixels
-down the left-hand side. For some fonts, you may need to set this to
-+1, so that the text is overprinted one pixel to the right; for
-really large fonts, you may want to set it even higher.
+down the right-hand side. For some fonts, you may need to set this to
+-1, so that the text is overprinted one pixel to the left; for
+really large fonts, you may want to set it higher than 1 (in one
+direction or the other).
 .IP "\fBpterm.BoldAsColour\fP"
 This option should be set to either 0 or 1; the default is 1. It
 specifies the default state of auto wrap mode. When set to 1, bold
diff --git a/unix/pterm.c b/unix/pterm.c
index 94b732de..b1b98c1e 100644
--- a/unix/pterm.c
+++ b/unix/pterm.c
@@ -1398,7 +1398,7 @@ void do_text_internal(Context ctx, int x, int y, char *text, int len,
     struct gui_data *inst = dctx->inst;
     GdkGC *gc = dctx->gc;
 
-    int nfg, nbg, t, fontid, shadow;
+    int nfg, nbg, t, fontid, shadow, rlen;
 
     /*
      * NYI:
@@ -1435,13 +1435,25 @@ void do_text_internal(Context ctx, int x, int y, char *text, int len,
 	    return;
 	if (x + len*2 > inst->term->cols)
 	    len = (inst->term->cols-x)/2;    /* trim to LH half */
+	rlen = len * 2;
+    } else
+	rlen = len;
+
+    {
+	GdkRectangle r;
+
+	r.x = x*inst->font_width+cfg.window_border;
+	r.y = y*inst->font_height+cfg.window_border;
+	r.width = rlen*inst->font_width;
+	r.height = inst->font_height;
+	gdk_gc_set_clip_rectangle(gc, &r);
     }
 
     gdk_gc_set_foreground(gc, &inst->cols[nbg]);
     gdk_draw_rectangle(inst->pixmap, gc, 1,
 		       x*inst->font_width+cfg.window_border,
 		       y*inst->font_height+cfg.window_border,
-		       len*inst->font_width, inst->font_height);
+		       rlen*inst->font_width, inst->font_height);
 
     gdk_gc_set_foreground(gc, &inst->cols[nfg]);
     gdk_draw_text(inst->pixmap, inst->fonts[fontid], gc,