diff --git a/src/common/appbase.cpp b/src/common/appbase.cpp
index a2d7202f40..63512ccd38 100644
--- a/src/common/appbase.cpp
+++ b/src/common/appbase.cpp
@@ -673,7 +673,6 @@ void wxAppConsoleBase::CallEventHandler(wxEvtHandler *handler,
 
 void wxAppConsoleBase::OnUnhandledException()
 {
-#ifdef __WXDEBUG__
     // we're called from an exception handler so we can re-throw the exception
     // to recover its type
     wxString what;
@@ -685,9 +684,9 @@ void wxAppConsoleBase::OnUnhandledException()
     catch ( std::exception& e )
     {
 #ifdef wxNO_RTTI
-        what.Printf("std::exception, what() = \"%s\"", e.what());
+        what.Printf("standard exception with message \"%s\"", e.what());
 #else
-        what.Printf("std::exception of type \"%s\", what() = \"%s\"",
+        what.Printf("standard exception of type \"%s\" with message \"%s\"",
                     typeid(e).name(), e.what());
 #endif
     }
@@ -698,9 +697,10 @@ void wxAppConsoleBase::OnUnhandledException()
     }
 
     wxMessageOutputBest().Printf(
-        "*** Caught unhandled %s; terminating\n", what
+        "Unhandled %s; terminating %s.\n",
+        what,
+        wxIsMainThread() ? "the application" : "the thread in which it happened"
     );
-#endif // __WXDEBUG__
 }
 
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------