diff --git a/lisp/woman.el b/lisp/woman.el
index c0c8f34348..2f923c5455 100644
--- a/lisp/woman.el
+++ b/lisp/woman.el
@@ -1644,7 +1644,9 @@ woman-really-find-file
     (setq default-directory (file-name-directory filename))
     (setq-local backup-inhibited t)
     (set-visited-file-name "")
-    (woman-process-buffer)))
+    (or (ignore-errors (woman-process-buffer))
+        (erase-buffer) 
+        (shell-command (concat "man " (replace-regexp-in-string "^\\([^\\.]+\\).\\(.*\\)" "\\1" (file-name-nondirectory (file-name-sans-extension filename)))) bufname))))
 
 (defun woman-process-buffer ()
   "The second half of `woman-really-find-file'!"