diff --git a/core/modern/modern.factor b/core/modern/modern.factor
index 7cb566c28e..ecfa7e832b 100644
--- a/core/modern/modern.factor
+++ b/core/modern/modern.factor
@@ -566,8 +566,8 @@ CONSTANT: factor-lexing-rules {
 ! What a lexer body looks like, produced by make-lexer
 ! : lex ( n/f string -- n'/f string literal )
     ! "!`\\\"[{(\s\r\n" slice-til-either {
-        ! { char: ! [ read-exclamation ] }
-        ! { char: ` [ read-backtick ] }
+        ! { char: \! [ read-exclamation ] }
+        ! { char: \` [ read-backtick ] }
         ! { char: \ [ read-backslash ] }
         ! { char: \" [ read-string ] }
         ! { char: \[ [ read-bracket ] }
diff --git a/libs/txon/txon.factor b/libs/txon/txon.factor
index 44518b4fcf..9664005c22 100644
--- a/libs/txon/txon.factor
+++ b/libs/txon/txon.factor
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ PRIVATE<
     "\\`" "`" replace ;
 
 : unescaped-backtick? ( ch1 ch2 -- ? )
-    [ char: \ = not ] [ char: ` = ] bi* and ; inline
+    [ char: \ = not ] [ char: \` = ] bi* and ; inline
 
 : (find-escaped-backtick) ( string -- n/f )
     2 clump [ first2 unescaped-backtick? ] find drop [ 1 + ] [ f ] if* ;
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ DEFER: name/values
     ":`" over subseq? [ (name=value) ] [ f swap ] if ;
 
 : name/values ( string -- remain terms )
-    [ dup { [ empty? not ] [ first char: ` = not ] } 1&& ]
+    [ dup { [ empty? not ] [ first char: \` = not ] } 1&& ]
     [ name=value ] produce assoc-combine ;
 
 : parse-txon ( string -- objects )