diff --git a/Documentation/CodingStyle b/Documentation/CodingStyle
index 7f1730f1a1ae2e9a6f368bdb10ff65f4568863d5..6caa146155788c8a67fc940c1879f2faf4fac1bb 100644
--- a/Documentation/CodingStyle
+++ b/Documentation/CodingStyle
@@ -77,12 +77,15 @@ Get a decent editor and don't leave whitespace at the end of lines.
 Coding style is all about readability and maintainability using commonly
 available tools.
 
-The limit on the length of lines is 80 columns and this is a hard limit.
+The limit on the length of lines is 80 columns and this is a strongly
+preferred limit.
 
 Statements longer than 80 columns will be broken into sensible chunks.
 Descendants are always substantially shorter than the parent and are placed
 substantially to the right. The same applies to function headers with a long
-argument list. Long strings are as well broken into shorter strings.
+argument list. Long strings are as well broken into shorter strings. The
+only exception to this is where exceeding 80 columns significantly increases
+readability and does not hide information.
 
 void fun(int a, int b, int c)
 {