Index: parcels/osaf/pim/mail.py
===================================================================
--- parcels/osaf/pim/mail.py	(revision 14803)
+++ parcels/osaf/pim/mail.py	(working copy)
@@ -2135,10 +2135,10 @@
         return re.match("^(([^<>()[\]\\.,;:\s@\"]+(\.[^<>()[\]\\.,;:\s@\"]+)*)|(\".+\"))@((\[[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\])|(([a-zA-Z\-0-9]+\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,}))$", self.emailAddress) is not None
 
     def getShortenedDisplayAddress(self, stringCanFit):
-        address = self.__str__()
+        address = unicode(self)
         # do the dumb thing -- just take the last char off
-        while not stringCanFit(address) and len(address) > 0:
-            address =  address[0:len(address)-1]
+        while address and not stringCanFit(address):
+            address =  address[:-1]
         return address
 
     @classmethod