diff --git a/parser.cpp b/parser.cpp
index 1bc262ea6..b4aedd854 100644
--- a/parser.cpp
+++ b/parser.cpp
@@ -2027,6 +2027,7 @@ int parser_t::parse_job(process_t *p,
                      for this, used by other shells like bash
                      and zsh).
                      */
+
                     if (wcschr(cmd, L'='))
                     {
                         wchar_t *cpy = wcsdup(cmd);
@@ -2076,9 +2077,15 @@ int parser_t::parse_job(process_t *p,
                     }
                     else
                     {
-                        debug(0,
-                              _(L"Unknown command '%ls'"),
-                              cmd?cmd:L"UNKNOWN");
+                        /*
+                         Handle unrecognized commands with standard
+                         command not found handler that can make better
+                         error messages
+                         */
+
+                        wcstring_list_t event_args;
+                        event_args.push_back(args.at(0).completion);
+                        event_fire_generic(L"fish_command_not_found", &event_args);
                     }
 
                     tmp = current_tokenizer_pos;
@@ -2090,9 +2097,6 @@ int parser_t::parse_job(process_t *p,
 
                     job_set_flag(j, JOB_SKIP, 1);
 
-                    wcstring_list_t event_args;
-                    event_args.push_back(args.at(0).completion);
-                    event_fire_generic(L"fish_command_not_found", &event_args);
                     proc_set_last_status(err==ENOENT?STATUS_UNKNOWN_COMMAND:STATUS_NOT_EXECUTABLE);
                 }
             }
diff --git a/share/functions/__fish_config_interactive.fish b/share/functions/__fish_config_interactive.fish
index 814fff198..b78d62b77 100644
--- a/share/functions/__fish_config_interactive.fish
+++ b/share/functions/__fish_config_interactive.fish
@@ -218,21 +218,23 @@ function __fish_config_interactive -d "Initializations that should be performed
 	function fish_command_not_found_setup --on-event fish_command_not_found
 		# Remove fish_command_not_found_setup so we only execute this once
 		functions --erase fish_command_not_found_setup
-		
+
 		# First check in /usr/lib, this is where modern Ubuntus place this command
 		if test -f /usr/lib/command-not-found
 			function fish_command_not_found_handler --on-event fish_command_not_found
 				/usr/lib/command-not-found $argv
 			end
-			fish_command_not_found_handler $argv
+		# Ubuntu Feisty places this command in the regular path instead
+		else if type -p command-not-found > /dev/null 2> /dev/null
+			function fish_command_not_found_handler --on-event fish_command_not_found
+				command-not-found $argv
+			end
+		# Use standard fish command not found handler otherwise
 		else
-			# Ubuntu Feisty places this command in the regular path instead
-			if type -p command-not-found > /dev/null 2> /dev/null
-				function fish_command_not_found_handler --on-event fish_command_not_found
-					command-not-found $argv
-				end
-				fish_command_not_found_handler $argv
+			function __fish_command_not_found_handler --on-event fish_command_not_found
+				echo fish: Unknown command "'$argv'" >&2
 			end
 		end
+		fish_command_not_found_handler $argv
 	end
 end