diff --git a/extra/symbols/symbols-tests.factor b/extra/symbols/symbols-tests.factor
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 84a61509c8..0eacbbfd38
--- a/extra/symbols/symbols-tests.factor
+++ b/extra/symbols/symbols-tests.factor
@@ -1,7 +1,15 @@
-USING: kernel symbols tools.test ;
+USING: kernel symbols tools.test parser generic words ;
 IN: symbols.tests
 
 [ ] [ SYMBOLS: a b c ; ] unit-test
 [ a ] [ a ] unit-test
 [ b ] [ b ] unit-test
 [ c ] [ c ] unit-test
+
+DEFER: blah
+
+[ ] [ "IN: symbols.tests GENERIC: blah" eval ] unit-test
+[ ] [ "IN: symbols.tests USE: symbols SYMBOLS: blah ;" eval ] unit-test
+
+[ f ] [ \ blah generic? ] unit-test
+[ t ] [ \ blah symbol? ] unit-test
diff --git a/extra/symbols/symbols.factor b/extra/symbols/symbols.factor
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 8e074f4163..f6254f19de
--- a/extra/symbols/symbols.factor
+++ b/extra/symbols/symbols.factor
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
-! Copyright (C) 2008 Slava Pestov.
+! Copyright (C) 2008 Doug Coleman.
 ! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
-USING: parser sequences words ;
+USING: parser sequences words kernel ;
 IN: symbols
 
 : SYMBOLS:
-    ";" parse-tokens [ create-in define-symbol ] each ;
+    ";" parse-tokens
+    [ create-in dup reset-generic define-symbol ] each ;
     parsing