diff --git a/lexor.lex b/lexor.lex
index 444d6a10d..affd9d794 100644
--- a/lexor.lex
+++ b/lexor.lex
@@ -620,14 +620,14 @@ S [afpnumkKMGT]
        error_count += 1; }
 
   /* Final catchall. something got lost or mishandled. */
-  /* XXX Should we tell the luser something about the lexical state? */
+  /* XXX Should we tell the user something about the lexical state? */
 
 <*>.|\n {   cerr << yylloc.text << ":" << yylloc.first_line
 	   << ": error: unmatched character (";
-      if (isgraph(yytext[0]))
+      if (isprint(yytext[0]))
 	    cerr << yytext[0];
       else
-	    cerr << "hex " << hex << (0xffU & ((unsigned) (yytext[0])));
+	    cerr << "hex " << hex << ((unsigned char) yytext[0]);
 
       cerr << ")" << endl;
       error_count += 1; }
diff --git a/verinum.cc b/verinum.cc
index 4e7be7668..99dd3ec6e 100644
--- a/verinum.cc
+++ b/verinum.cc
@@ -516,11 +516,11 @@ string verinum::as_string() const
 		  char tmp[5];
 		  snprintf(tmp, sizeof tmp, "\\%03o", char_val);
 		  res = res + tmp;
-	    } else if (char_val == ' ' || isgraph(char_val)) {
+	    } else if (isprint(char_val)) {
 		  res = res + char_val;
 	    } else {
 		  char tmp[5];
-		  snprintf(tmp, sizeof tmp, "\\%03o", char_val);
+		  snprintf(tmp, sizeof tmp, "\\%03o", (unsigned char)char_val);
 		  res = res + tmp;
 	    }
       }