diff --git a/common/gettime.c b/common/gettime.c
index 9702bbcac..9c6365886 100644
--- a/common/gettime.c
+++ b/common/gettime.c
@@ -740,10 +740,10 @@ rfctimestamp (u32 stamp)
   if (!tp)
     return NULL;
   return xtryasprintf ("%.3s, %02d %.3s %04d %02d:%02d:%02d +0000",
-                       ("SunMonTueWedThuFriSat" + (tp->tm_wday%7)*3),
+                       &"SunMonTueWedThuFriSat"[(tp->tm_wday%7)*3],
                        tp->tm_mday,
-                       ("JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec"
-                        + (tp->tm_mon%12)*3),
+                       &"JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec"
+                       [(tp->tm_mon%12)*3],
                        tp->tm_year + 1900,
                        tp->tm_hour,
                        tp->tm_min,
diff --git a/common/signal.c b/common/signal.c
index b202f0f6b..9064adcd1 100644
--- a/common/signal.c
+++ b/common/signal.c
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ got_fatal_signal (int sig)
             {
               if (value >= i || ((any || i==1) && !(value/i)))
                 {
-                  (void)write (2, "0123456789"+(value/i), 1);
+                  (void)write (2, &"0123456789"[value/i], 1);
                   if ((value/i))
                     any = 1;
                   value %= i;