diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/install.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/install.rb
index aa7987048e..319b277fd9 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/install.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/install.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ require 'formula_installer'
 require 'hardware'
 require 'blacklist'
 
-module Homebrew extend self
+module Homebrew extend self  
   def install
     raise FormulaUnspecifiedError if ARGV.named.empty?
 
@@ -15,9 +15,7 @@ module Homebrew extend self
     end unless ARGV.force?
 
     if Process.uid.zero? and not File.stat(HOMEBREW_BREW_FILE).uid.zero?
-      # note we only abort if Homebrew is *not* installed as sudo and the user
-      # calls brew as root. The fix is to chown brew to root.
-      abort "Cowardly refusing to `sudo brew install'"
+      raise "Cowardly refusing to `sudo brew install'\n#{SUDO_BAD_ERRMSG}"
     end
 
     install_formulae ARGV.formulae
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/link.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/link.rb
index 2595af3b87..8e942cd916 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/link.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/link.rb
@@ -4,9 +4,7 @@ module Homebrew extend self
     raise KegUnspecifiedError if ARGV.named.empty?
 
     if Process.uid.zero? and not File.stat(HOMEBREW_BREW_FILE).uid.zero?
-      # note we only abort if Homebrew is *not* installed as sudo and the user
-      # calls brew as root. The fix is to chown brew to root.
-      abort "Cowardly refusing to `sudo brew link'"
+      raise "Cowardly refusing to `sudo brew link'\n#{SUDO_BAD_ERRMSG}"
     end
 
     if ARGV.force? then mode = :force
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/exceptions.rb b/Library/Homebrew/exceptions.rb
index 9ed6646f1f..5dd2209b20 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/exceptions.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/exceptions.rb
@@ -179,3 +179,11 @@ class ChecksumMismatchError < RuntimeError
     super + advice.to_s
   end
 end
+
+module Homebrew extend self
+  SUDO_BAD_ERRMSG = <<-EOS.undent
+    You can use brew with sudo, but only if the brew executable is owned by root.
+    However, this is both not recommended and completely unsupported so do so at
+    your own risk.
+  EOS
+end