diff --git a/lib/redcloth3.rb b/lib/redcloth3.rb
index 6c1d9fd..0e3258c 100644
--- a/lib/redcloth3.rb
+++ b/lib/redcloth3.rb
@@ -1011,7 +1011,7 @@ class RedCloth3 < String
     end
     
     OFFTAGS = /(code|pre|kbd|notextile)/
-    OFFTAG_MATCH = /(?:(<\/#{ OFFTAGS }>)|(<#{ OFFTAGS }[^>]*>))(.*?)(?=<\/?#{ OFFTAGS }|\Z)/mi
+    OFFTAG_MATCH = /(?:(<\/#{ OFFTAGS }>)|(<#{ OFFTAGS }[^>]*>))(.*?)(?=<\/?#{ OFFTAGS }\W|\Z)/mi
     OFFTAG_OPEN = /<#{ OFFTAGS }/
     OFFTAG_CLOSE = /<\/?#{ OFFTAGS }/
     HASTAG_MATCH = /(<\/?\w[^\n]*?>)/m
diff --git a/test/unit/helpers/application_helper_test.rb b/test/unit/helpers/application_helper_test.rb
index 09982e3..62895e6 100644
--- a/test/unit/helpers/application_helper_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/helpers/application_helper_test.rb
@@ -251,7 +251,29 @@ RAW
     to_test.each { |text, result| assert_equal result, textilizable(text) }
   end
   
-  def syntax_highlight
+  def test_pre_tags
+    raw = <<-RAW
+Before
+
+<pre>
+<prepared-statement-cache-size>32</prepared-statement-cache-size>
+</pre>
+
+After
+RAW
+
+    expected = <<-EXPECTED
+<p>Before</p>
+<pre>
+&lt;prepared-statement-cache-size&gt;32&lt;/prepared-statement-cache-size&gt;
+</pre>
+<p>After</p>
+EXPECTED
+    
+    assert_equal expected.gsub(%r{[\r\n\t]}, ''), textilizable(raw).gsub(%r{[\r\n\t]}, '')
+  end
+  
+  def test_syntax_highlight
     raw = <<-RAW
 <pre><code class="ruby">
 # Some ruby code here