diff --git a/src/mu-cmd-find.c b/src/mu-cmd-find.c
index 6b8f2aa5..c166e8e0 100644
--- a/src/mu-cmd-find.c
+++ b/src/mu-cmd-find.c
@@ -294,6 +294,35 @@ resolve_bookmark (MuConfig *opts, GError **err)
 }
 
 
+
+gchar*
+str_quoted_from_strv (const gchar **params)
+{
+	GString *str;
+	int i;
+
+	g_return_val_if_fail (params, NULL);
+
+	if (!params[0])
+		return g_strdup ("");
+
+	str = g_string_sized_new (64); /* just a guess */
+
+	for (i = 0; params[i]; ++i) {
+
+		if (i > 0)
+			g_string_append_c (str, ' ');
+
+		g_string_append_c (str, '"');
+		g_string_append (str, params[i]);
+		g_string_append_c (str, '"');
+	}
+
+	return g_string_free (str, FALSE);
+}
+
+
+
 static gchar*
 get_query (MuConfig *opts, GError **err)
 {
@@ -313,7 +342,7 @@ get_query (MuConfig *opts, GError **err)
 			return NULL;
 	}
 
-	query = mu_util_str_from_strv ((const gchar**)&opts->params[1]);
+	query = str_quoted_from_strv ((const gchar**)&opts->params[1]);
 	if (bookmarkval) {
 		gchar *tmp;
 		tmp = g_strdup_printf ("%s %s", bookmarkval, query);
diff --git a/src/mu-query.cc b/src/mu-query.cc
index 2f45a54e..c5d27505 100644
--- a/src/mu-query.cc
+++ b/src/mu-query.cc
@@ -203,7 +203,8 @@ get_query (MuQuery *mqx, const char* searchexpr, GError **err)
 			 Xapian::QueryParser::FLAG_PURE_NOT         |
 			 Xapian::QueryParser::FLAG_WILDCARD	    |
 			 Xapian::QueryParser::FLAG_AUTO_SYNONYMS    |
-			 Xapian::QueryParser::FLAG_BOOLEAN_ANY_CASE);
+			 Xapian::QueryParser::FLAG_BOOLEAN_ANY_CASE
+			 );
 		g_free (preprocessed);
 		return query;
 
@@ -275,22 +276,32 @@ mu_query_destroy (MuQuery *self)
 }
 
 
-/* preprocess a query to make them a bit more permissive */
+/* preprocess a query to make them a bit more promiscuous */
 char*
 mu_query_preprocess (const char *query)
 {
-	gchar *my_query;
+	GSList *parts, *cur;
+	gchar *myquery;
 
 	g_return_val_if_fail (query, NULL);
-	my_query = g_strdup (query);
 
-	/* remove accents and turn to lower-case */
-	mu_str_normalize_in_place (my_query, TRUE);
-	/* escape '@', single '_' and ':' if it's not following a
-	 * xapian-pfx with '_' */
-	mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape_in_place (my_query);
+	/* convert the query to a list of query terms, and escape them
+	 * separately */
+	parts = mu_str_esc_to_list (query);
 
-	return my_query;
+	for (cur = parts; cur; cur = g_slist_next(cur)) {
+		/* remove accents and turn to lower-case */
+		cur->data = mu_str_normalize_in_place ((gchar*)cur->data, TRUE);
+		/* escape '@', single '_' and ':' if it's not following a
+		 * xapian-pfx with '_' */
+		cur->data = mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape_in_place
+			((gchar*)cur->data, TRUE /*escape spaces too*/);
+	}
+
+	myquery = mu_str_from_list (parts, ' ');
+	mu_str_free_list (parts);
+
+	return myquery;
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/mu-str.c b/src/mu-str.c
index d746861f..d88e9647 100644
--- a/src/mu-str.c
+++ b/src/mu-str.c
@@ -432,7 +432,7 @@ mu_str_subject_normalize (const gchar* str)
  * specially; function below is an ugly hack to make it DWIM in most
  * cases...*/
 char*
-mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape_in_place (char *query)
+mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape_in_place (char *query, gboolean esc_space)
 {
 	gchar *cur;
 	const char escchar = '_';
@@ -444,10 +444,14 @@ mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape_in_place (char *query)
 		*cur = tolower(*cur);
 
 		switch (*cur) {
+		case ' ':
+			if (!esc_space)
+				break;
 		case '@':
 		case '-':
 		case '/':
-		case '.': {
+		case '.':
+		{
 			/* don't replace a final special char */
 			if (cur[1]== ' ' || cur[1]=='\t' || cur[1]== '.')
 				++cur;
@@ -472,11 +476,11 @@ mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape_in_place (char *query)
 }
 
 char*
-mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape (const char *query)
+mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape (const char *query, gboolean esc_space)
 {
 	g_return_val_if_fail (query, NULL);
 
-	return mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape_in_place (g_strdup(query));
+	return mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape_in_place (g_strdup(query), esc_space);
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/mu-str.h b/src/mu-str.h
index a5598195..e0c30bdc 100644
--- a/src/mu-str.h
+++ b/src/mu-str.h
@@ -1,22 +1,22 @@
 /* -*-mode: c; tab-width: 8; indent-tabs-mode: t; c-basic-offset: 8 -*-*/
 
-/* 
+/*
 ** Copyright (C) 2008-2010 Dirk-Jan C. Binnema <djcb@djcbsoftware.nl>
 **
 ** This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 ** it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 ** the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
 ** (at your option) any later version.
-**  
+**
 ** This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 ** but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 ** MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 ** GNU General Public License for more details.
-**  
+**
 ** You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 ** along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
-** Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.  
-**  
+** Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+**
 */
 
 #ifndef __MU_STR_H__
@@ -43,9 +43,9 @@ G_BEGIN_DECLS
  *   buffer (ie, non-reentrant), while mu_str_display_contact
  *   returns a newly allocated string that you must free with g_free
  *   when done with it.
- * 
+ *
  * @param str a 'contact str' (ie., what is in the To/Cc/Bcc/From fields), or NULL
- * 
+ *
  * @return a newly allocated string with a display contact
  */
 const char* mu_str_display_contact_s (const char *str);
@@ -56,13 +56,13 @@ char *mu_str_display_contact (const char *str);
  * get a display size for a given size_t; uses M for sizes >
  * 1000*1000, k for smaller sizes. Note: this function use the
  * 10-based SI units, _not_ the powers-of-2 based ones.
- * 
+ *
  * mu_str_size_s returns a ptr to a static buffer,
  * while mu_str_size returns dynamically allocated
  * memory that must be freed after use.
  *
  * @param t the size as an size_t
- * 
+ *
  * @return a string representation of the size; see above
  * for what to do with it
  */
@@ -70,17 +70,17 @@ const char* mu_str_size_s  (size_t s) G_GNUC_CONST;
 char*       mu_str_size    (size_t s) G_GNUC_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT;
 
 /**
- * get a display string for a given set of flags, OR'ed in 
+ * get a display string for a given set of flags, OR'ed in
  * @param flags; one character per flag:
- * D=draft,F=flagged,N=new,P=passed,R=replied,S=seen,T=trashed 
+ * D=draft,F=flagged,N=new,P=passed,R=replied,S=seen,T=trashed
  * a=has-attachment,s=signed, x=encrypted
- * 
+ *
  * mu_str_file_flags_s  returns a ptr to a static buffer,
  * while mu_str_file_flags returns dynamically allocated
  * memory that must be freed after use.
  *
  * @param flags file flags
- * 
+ *
  * @return a string representation of the flags; see above
  * for what to do with it
  */
@@ -91,10 +91,10 @@ char*       mu_str_flags    (MuFlags flags)
 /**
  * get a 'summary' of the string, ie. the first /n/ lines of the
  * strings, with all newlines removed, replaced by single spaces
- * 
+ *
  * @param str the source string
  * @param max_lines the maximum number of lines to include in the summary
- * 
+ *
  * @return a newly allocated string with the summary. use g_free to free it.
  */
 char* mu_str_summarize (const char* str, size_t max_lines)
@@ -106,8 +106,8 @@ char* mu_str_summarize (const char* str, size_t max_lines)
  * 'Latin-1 Supplement' and 'Latin Extended-A'
  *
  * @param str a valid utf8 string or NULL
- * @param downcase if TRUE, convert the string to lowercase 
- * 
+ * @param downcase if TRUE, convert the string to lowercase
+ *
  * @return the normalize string, or NULL in case of error or str was NULL
  */
 char* mu_str_normalize (const char *str, gboolean downcase)
@@ -120,10 +120,10 @@ char* mu_str_normalize (const char *str, gboolean downcase)
  * optionally, downcase it. this happen by changing the string; if
  * that is not desired, use mu_str_normalize. Works for accented chars
  * in Unicode Blocks 'Latin-1 Supplement' and 'Latin Extended-A'
- * 
+ *
  * @param str a valid utf8 string or NULL
  * @param downcase if TRUE, convert the string to lowercase
- *  
+ *
  * @return the normalized string, or NULL in case of error or str was
  * NULL
  */
@@ -139,12 +139,13 @@ char* mu_str_normalize_in_place (char *str, gboolean downcase);
  * case, the string will be downcased.
  *
  * works for ascii strings, like e-mail addresses and message-id.
- * 
+ *
  * @param query a query string
- * 
+ * @param esc_space escape space characters as well
+ *
  * @return the escaped string or NULL in case of error
  */
-char* mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape_in_place (char *query);
+char* mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape_in_place (char *query, gboolean esc_space);
 
 /**
  * escape the string for use with xapian matching. in practice, if the
@@ -153,12 +154,13 @@ char* mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape_in_place (char *query);
  * as 'subject:', 't:' etc, as defined in mu-msg-fields.[ch]).
  *
  * works for ascii strings, like e-mail addresses and message-id.
- * 
+ *
  * @param query a query string
- * 
+ * @param esc_space escape space characters as well
+ *
  * @return the escaped string (free with g_free) or NULL in case of error
  */
-char* mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape (const char *query)
+char* mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape (const char *query, gboolean esc_space)
         G_GNUC_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT;
 
 
@@ -174,9 +176,9 @@ char* mu_str_ascii_xapian_escape (const char *query)
  * practical sizes for email messages are in terms of Mb; even in
  * extreme cases it should be under 100 Mb. Function return
  * GUINT64_MAX if there a parsing error
- * 
+ *
  * @param str a string with a size, such a "100", "100Kb", "1Mb"
- * 
+ *
  * @return the corresponding size in bytes, or -1 in case of error
  */
 gint64 mu_str_size_parse_bkm (const char* str);
@@ -184,10 +186,10 @@ gint64 mu_str_size_parse_bkm (const char* str);
 /**
  * create a full path from a path + a filename. function is _not_
  * reentrant.
- * 
+ *
  * @param path a path (!= NULL)
  * @param name a name (may be NULL)
- * 
+ *
  * @return the path as a statically allocated buffer. don't free.
  */
 const char* mu_str_fullpath_s (const char* path, const char* name);
@@ -196,10 +198,10 @@ const char* mu_str_fullpath_s (const char* path, const char* name);
 /**
  * escape a string like a string literal in C; ie. replace \ with \\,
  * and " with \"
- * 
+ *
  * @param str a non-NULL str
  * @param in_quotes whether the result should be enclosed in ""
- * 
+ *
  * @return the escaped string, newly allocated (free with g_free)
  */
 char* mu_str_escape_c_literal (const gchar* str, gboolean in_quotes)
@@ -210,9 +212,9 @@ char* mu_str_escape_c_literal (const gchar* str, gboolean in_quotes)
 /**
  * turn a string into plain ascii by replacing each non-ascii
  * character with a dot ('.'). replacement is done in-place.
- * 
+ *
  * @param buf a buffer to asciify
- * 
+ *
  * @return the buf ptr (as to allow for function composition)
  */
 char* mu_str_asciify_in_place (char *buf);
@@ -220,10 +222,10 @@ char* mu_str_asciify_in_place (char *buf);
 
 /**
  * convert a string in a certain charset into utf8
- * 
+ *
  * @param buffer a buffer to convert
  * @param charset source character set.
- * 
+ *
  * @return a UTF8 string (which you need to g_free when done with it),
  * or NULL in case of error
  */
@@ -234,9 +236,9 @@ gchar* mu_str_convert_to_utf8 (const char* buffer, const char *charset);
 /**
  * macro to check whether the string is empty, ie. if it's NULL or
  * it's length is 0
- * 
+ *
  * @param S a string
- * 
+ *
  * @return TRUE if the string is empty, FALSE otherwise
  */
 #define mu_str_is_empty(S) ((!(S)||!(*S))?TRUE:FALSE)
@@ -244,10 +246,10 @@ gchar* mu_str_convert_to_utf8 (const char* buffer, const char *charset);
 
 /**
  * convert a GSList of strings to a #sepa-separated list
- * 
+ *
  * @param lst a GSList
  * @param the separator character
- * 
+ *
  * @return a newly allocated string
  */
 char* mu_str_from_list (const GSList *lst, char sepa);
@@ -255,7 +257,7 @@ char* mu_str_from_list (const GSList *lst, char sepa);
 
 /**
  * convert a #sepa-separated list of strings in to a GSList
- * 
+ *
  * @param str a #sepa-separated list of strings
  * @param the separator character
  * @param remove leading/trailing whitespace from the string
@@ -270,9 +272,9 @@ GSList* mu_str_to_list (const char *str, char sepa, gboolean strip);
  * separated by one or more spaces. list items can be quoted (using
  * '"'), and '"', ' ' and '\' use their special meaning when prefixed
  * with \.
- * 
+ *
  * @param str a string
- * 
+ *
  * @return a list of elements or NULL in case of error
  */
 GSList* mu_str_esc_to_list (const char *str);
@@ -280,7 +282,7 @@ GSList* mu_str_esc_to_list (const char *str);
 
 /**
  * free a GSList consisting of allocated strings
- * 
+ *
  * @param lst a GSList
  */
 void mu_str_free_list (GSList *lst);
@@ -289,9 +291,9 @@ void mu_str_free_list (GSList *lst);
 
 /**
  * strip the subject of Re:, Fwd: etc.
- * 
+ *
  * @param str a subject string
- * 
+ *
  * @return a new string -- this is pointing somewhere inside the @str;
  * no copy is made, don't free
  */
@@ -303,9 +305,9 @@ const gchar* mu_str_subject_normalize (const gchar* str);
  * first name, last name, the nick will be first name + the first char
  * of the last name. otherwise, it's just the first name. clearly,
  * this is just a rough guess for setting an initial value for nicks.
- * 
+ *
  * @param name a name
- * 
+ *
  * @return the guessed nick, as a newly allocated string (free with g_free)
  */
 gchar* mu_str_guess_nick (const char* name)
@@ -315,9 +317,9 @@ gchar* mu_str_guess_nick (const char* name)
 /**
  * guess the first name for the given name; clearly,
  * this is just a rough guess for setting an initial value.
- * 
+ *
  * @param name a name
- * 
+ *
  * @return the first name, as a newly allocated string (free with
  * g_free)
  */
@@ -329,9 +331,9 @@ gchar* mu_str_guess_first_name (const char* name)
 /**
  * guess the last name for the given name; clearly,
  * this is just a rough guess for setting an initial value.
- * 
+ *
  * @param name a name
- * 
+ *
  * @return the last name, as a newly allocated string (free with
  * g_free)
  */
diff --git a/src/mu-util.c b/src/mu-util.c
index 496950c1..5a6a4698 100644
--- a/src/mu-util.c
+++ b/src/mu-util.c
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ mu_util_str_from_strv (const gchar **params)
 
 	for (i = 0; params[i]; ++i) {
 
-		if (i>0)
+		if (i > 0)
 			g_string_append_c (str, ' ');
 
 		g_string_append (str, params[i]);
@@ -293,6 +293,11 @@ mu_util_str_from_strv (const gchar **params)
 	return g_string_free (str, FALSE);
 }
 
+
+
+
+
+
 int
 mu_util_create_writeable_fd (const char* path, mode_t mode,
 			     gboolean overwrite)
@@ -482,5 +487,3 @@ mu_util_printerr_encoded (const char *frm, ...)
 
 	return rv;
 }
-
-