diff --git a/tools/help/html/html.factor b/tools/help/html/html.factor
index 2a95880606..b2915f6e1b 100644
--- a/tools/help/html/html.factor
+++ b/tools/help/html/html.factor
@@ -15,9 +15,9 @@ in: help.html
 : escape-char ( ch -- )
     dup ascii? [
         dup H{
-            { char: " "__quo__" }
+            { char: \" "__quo__" }
             { char: * "__star__" }
-            { char: : "__colon__" }
+            { char: \: "__colon__" }
             { char: < "__lt__" }
             { char: > "__gt__" }
             { char: ? "__que__" }
diff --git a/tools/pdf/values/values.factor b/tools/pdf/values/values.factor
index 5a2b4129f1..0991282787 100644
--- a/tools/pdf/values/values.factor
+++ b/tools/pdf/values/values.factor
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ in: pdf.values
         { char: \r   "\\r"  }
         { char: \t   "\\t"  }
         { char: \\   "\\\\" }
-        { char: (    "\\("  }
+        { char: \(    "\\("  }
         { char: )    "\\)"  }
     } escape-string-by ;