Index: django/core/management/validation.py
===================================================================
--- django/core/management/validation.py	(revision 8564)
+++ django/core/management/validation.py	(working copy)
@@ -218,4 +218,8 @@
                     if f not in opts.local_fields:
                         e.add(opts, '"unique_together" refers to %s. This is not in the same model as the unique_together statement.' % f.name)
 
+        # Check verbose_name length
+        if len(opts.verbose_name) > 39:
+            e.add(opts, 'verbose_name "%s..." is too long. It must be 39 characters long at most.' % opts.verbose_name[:39])
+
     return len(e.errors)