diff --git a/wadsrc/static/zscript/ui/menu/conversationmenu.zs b/wadsrc/static/zscript/ui/menu/conversationmenu.zs
index 01fd6cc89..bf729b46a 100644
--- a/wadsrc/static/zscript/ui/menu/conversationmenu.zs
+++ b/wadsrc/static/zscript/ui/menu/conversationmenu.zs
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ class ConversationMenu : Menu
 			goodbyestr = String.Format("$TXT_%s_%02d", goodbyestr, Random[RandomSpeech](1, NUM_RANDOM_LINES));
 		}
 		goodbyestr = Stringtable.Localize(goodbyestr);
-		if (goodbyestr.Length() == 0 || goodbyestr.CharAt(0) == "$") goodbyestr = "Bye.";
+		if (goodbyestr.Length() == 0 || goodbyestr.Left(1) == "$") goodbyestr = "Bye.";
 		mResponses.Push(mResponseLines.Size());
 		mResponseLines.Push(goodbyestr);
 
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ class ConversationMenu : Menu
 		{
 			let dlgtext = String.Format("$TXT_%s_%02d", toSay, random[RandomSpeech](1, NUM_RANDOM_LINES));
 			toSay = Stringtable.Localize(dlgtext);
-			if (toSay.CharAt(0) == "$") toSay = Stringtable.Localize("$TXT_GOAWAY");
+			if (toSay.Left(1) == "$") toSay = Stringtable.Localize("$TXT_GOAWAY");
 		}
 		else
 		{
diff --git a/wadsrc/static/zscript/ui/menu/search/query.zs b/wadsrc/static/zscript/ui/menu/search/query.zs
index 691a85b59..20b384315 100644
--- a/wadsrc/static/zscript/ui/menu/search/query.zs
+++ b/wadsrc/static/zscript/ui/menu/search/query.zs
@@ -61,10 +61,10 @@ class os_Query
 
 	private static bool contains(string str, string substr)
 	{
-		str   .toLower();
-		substr.toLower();
+		let lowerstr = str.MakeLower();
+		let lowersubstr = substr.MakeLower();
 
-		bool contains = (str.IndexOf(substr) != -1);
+		bool contains = (lowerstr.IndexOf(lowersubstr) != -1);
 
 		return contains;
 	}