diff --git a/language.version b/language.version
index 587155d61..75f33901c 100644
--- a/language.version
+++ b/language.version
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 [default]
-SWWM_MODVER="\cyDEMOLITIONIST \cw1.3pre r485 \cu(Tue 20 Sep 13:00:26 CEST 2022)\c-";
-SWWM_SHORTVER="\cw1.3pre r485 \cu(2022-09-20 13:00:26)\c-";
+SWWM_MODVER="\cyDEMOLITIONIST \cw1.3pre r486 \cu(Tue 20 Sep 16:01:57 CEST 2022)\c-";
+SWWM_SHORTVER="\cw1.3pre r486 \cu(2022-09-20 16:01:57)\c-";
diff --git a/zscript/utility/swwm_utility.zsc b/zscript/utility/swwm_utility.zsc
index 42f680527..32b59b1c6 100644
--- a/zscript/utility/swwm_utility.zsc
+++ b/zscript/utility/swwm_utility.zsc
@@ -279,9 +279,11 @@ Class SWWMUtility
 		return c;
 	}
 
-	// not sure if I should use this, looks a bit ugly
-	static clearscope void ThousandsStr( out String s, int col = -1 )
+	// bit ugly, but it works
+	static clearscope void ThousandsStr( out String s, int col = Font.CR_UNDEFINED, String colstr = "" )
 	{
+		if ( (col < Font.CR_UNDEFINED) || (col >= Font.NUM_TEXT_COLORS) )
+			ThrowAbortException("col parameter out of range, use colstr for non-standard font colors.");
 		String nstr = s;
 		s.Truncate(0);
 		int len = nstr.CodePointCount();
@@ -295,26 +297,18 @@ Class SWWMUtility
 			t = (t-1)%3;
 			if ( (pos < len) && !t )
 			{
-				if ( col != -1 )
-				{
-					s.AppendCharacter(0x1C);
-					s.AppendCharacter(0x61+col);
-				}
-				s.AppendCharacter(0x2C);
-				if ( col != -1 )
-				{
-					s.AppendCharacter(0x1C);
-					s.AppendCharacter(0x2D);
-				}
+				if ( colstr != "" ) s.AppendFormat("\c[%s],\c-",colstr);
+				else if ( col != Font.CR_UNDEFINED ) s.AppendFormat("\c%c,\c-",0x61+col);
+				else s.AppendCharacter(0x2C);
 			}
 		}
 	}
-	static clearscope String ThousandsNum( int n, int col = -1, int digits = 0 )
+	static clearscope String ThousandsNum( int n, int col = Font.CR_UNDEFINED, String colstr = "", int digits = 0 )
 	{
 		String nstr;
 		if ( digits > 0 ) nstr = String.Format("%0*d",digits,n);
 		else nstr = String.Format("%d",n);
-		ThousandsStr(nstr,col);
+		ThousandsStr(nstr,col,colstr);
 		return nstr;
 	}