diff --git a/extra/fuel/pprint/pprint.factor b/extra/fuel/pprint/pprint.factor
index 25f3aec14d..6067bd4b49 100644
--- a/extra/fuel/pprint/pprint.factor
+++ b/extra/fuel/pprint/pprint.factor
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ M: object fuel-pprint pprint ; inline
 M: word fuel-pprint
     name>> V{ } clone [ fuel-maybe-scape append ] reduce >string write ;
 
-M: f fuel-pprint drop "nil" write ; inline
+M: f fuel-pprint drop "f" write ; inline
 
 M: integer fuel-pprint pprint ; inline
 
diff --git a/misc/fuel/fuel-eval.el b/misc/fuel/fuel-eval.el
index 4c34ef17b8..a4d5124136 100644
--- a/misc/fuel/fuel-eval.el
+++ b/misc/fuel/fuel-eval.el
@@ -116,7 +116,8 @@
 (defsubst fuel-eval--retort-make (err result &optional output)
   (list err result output))
 
-(defsubst fuel-eval--retort-error (ret) (nth 0 ret))
+(defsubst fuel-eval--retort-error (ret)
+  (and (not (eq (nth 0 ret) 'f)) (nth 0 ret)))
 (defsubst fuel-eval--retort-result (ret) (nth 1 ret))
 (defsubst fuel-eval--retort-output (ret) (nth 2 ret))