diff --git a/misc/fuel/fuel-mode.el b/misc/fuel/fuel-mode.el
index aa9a7d944e..0186392f34 100644
--- a/misc/fuel/fuel-mode.el
+++ b/misc/fuel/fuel-mode.el
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ for details."
   (interactive)
   (message "Loading all vocabularies in USING: form ...")
   (let ((err (fuel-eval--retort-error
-              (fuel-eval--send/wait '(:fuel* (t) t :usings) 120000))))
+              (fuel-eval--send/wait '(:fuel* (t .) t :usings) 120000))))
     (message (if err "Warning: some vocabularies failed to load"
                "All vocabularies loaded"))))
 
diff --git a/misc/fuel/fuel-syntax.el b/misc/fuel/fuel-syntax.el
index 6b646511ca..61aa2b7cdd 100644
--- a/misc/fuel/fuel-syntax.el
+++ b/misc/fuel/fuel-syntax.el
@@ -241,18 +241,17 @@
     table))
 
 (defconst fuel-syntax--syntactic-keywords
-  `(;; Comments
-    ("\\_<\\(#?!\\) .*\\(\n\\|$\\)" (1 "<") (2 ">"))
-    ("\\_<\\(#?!\\)\\(\n\\|$\\)" (1 "<") (2 ">"))
-    ;; Strings and chars
-    ("CHAR: \\(\"\\) [^\\\"]*?\\(\"\\)\\([^\\\"]\\|\\\\.\\)*?\\(\"\\)"
-     (1 "w") (2 "\"") (4 "\""))
-    ("\\(CHAR:\\|\\\\\\) \\(.\\)\\( \\|$\\)" (2 "w"))
-    ("\\( \\|^\\)\\(DLL\\|P\\|SBUF\\)\\(\"\\)\\([^\n\r\f\\\"]\\|\\\\.\\)*?\\(\"\\)"
-     (3 "\"") (5 "\""))
-    ("\\_<\\(\"\\)\\([^\n\r\f\\\"]\\|\\\\.\\)*?\\(\"\\)" (1 "\"") (3 "\""))
+  `(;; Strings and chars
     ("\\_<<\\(\"\\)\\_>" (1 "<b"))
     ("\\_<\\(\"\\)>\\_>" (1 ">b"))
+    ("\\( \\|^\\)\\(DLL\\|P\\|SBUF\\)?\\(\"\\)\\(\\([^\n\r\f\"\\]\\|\\\\.\\)*\\)\\(\"\\)"
+     (3 "\"") (6 "\""))
+    ("CHAR: \\(\"\\) [^\\\"]*?\\(\"\\)\\([^\\\"]\\|\\\\.\\)*?\\(\"\\)"
+     (1 "w") (2 "<b") (4 ">b"))
+    ("\\(CHAR:\\|\\\\\\) \\(\\w\\|!\\)\\( \\|$\\)" (2 "w"))
+    ;; Comments
+    ("\\_<\\(#?!\\) .*\\(\n\\|$\\)" (1 "<") (2 ">"))
+    ("\\_<\\(#?!\\)\\(\n\\|$\\)" (1 "<") (2 ">"))
     ;; postpone
     ("\\_<POSTPONE:\\( \\).*\\(\n\\)" (1 "<b") (2 ">b"))
     ;; Multiline constructs