diff --git a/wire/core/DatabaseQuerySelectFulltext.php b/wire/core/DatabaseQuerySelectFulltext.php
index 806b0fe1..af92b966 100644
--- a/wire/core/DatabaseQuerySelectFulltext.php
+++ b/wire/core/DatabaseQuerySelectFulltext.php
@@ -1046,7 +1046,7 @@ class DatabaseQuerySelectFulltext extends Wire {
 			}
 		}
 		
-		if(strlen($lastWord)) {
+		if(strlen("$lastWord")) {
 			// only last word allowed to be a partial match word
 			$lastRequired = isset($stopWords[$lastWord]) || isset($shortWords[$lastWord]) ? '' : $required;
 			$booleanValues[$lastWord] = $lastRequired . $lastWord . '*';
diff --git a/wire/core/Selectors.php b/wire/core/Selectors.php
index 49209187..6c661123 100644
--- a/wire/core/Selectors.php
+++ b/wire/core/Selectors.php
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ class Selectors extends WireArray {
 		$not = false;
 		if(!isset(self::$selectorTypes[$operator])) {
 			// unrecognized operator, see if it's an alternate placement for NOT "!" statement
-			$op = ltrim($operator, '!');
+			$op = ltrim("$operator", '!');
 			if(isset(self::$selectorTypes[$op])) {
 				$operator = $op;
 				$not = true;