diff --git a/lib/events.js b/lib/events.js
index 63d79cea6d..3ea798b3bd 100644
--- a/lib/events.js
+++ b/lib/events.js
@@ -140,7 +140,10 @@ EventEmitter.prototype.emit = function emit(type) {
     } else if (er instanceof Error) {
       throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event
     } else {
-      throw new Error('Uncaught, unspecified "error" event.');
+      // At least give some kind of context to the user
+      var err = new Error('Uncaught, unspecified "error" event. (' + er + ')');
+      err.context = er;
+      throw err;
     }
     return false;
   }
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-event-emitter-errors.js b/test/parallel/test-event-emitter-errors.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5ee2c87052
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-event-emitter-errors.js
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+var EventEmitter = require('events');
+var assert = require('assert');
+
+var EE = new EventEmitter();
+
+assert.throws(function() {
+  EE.emit('error', 'Accepts a string');
+}, /Accepts a string/);