diff --git a/src/squint/compiler.cljc b/src/squint/compiler.cljc
index 92d0a46b..c1bb8b49 100644
--- a/src/squint/compiler.cljc
+++ b/src/squint/compiler.cljc
@@ -203,7 +203,8 @@
   (let [sym-ns (namespace sym)]
     (if (and sym-ns
              (or (= "clojure.core" sym-ns)
-                 (= "cljs.core" sym-ns)))
+                 (= "cljs.core" sym-ns)
+                 (= "squint.core" sym-ns)))
       (symbol (name sym))
       sym)))
 
@@ -230,7 +231,7 @@
                             expr)
                      head-str (str head)
                      macro (when (symbol? head)
-                             (or (built-in-macros head)
+                             (or (built-in-macros (strip-core-symbol head))
                                  (let [ns (namespace head)
                                        nm (name head)
                                        ns-state @(:ns-state env)
diff --git a/src/squint/compiler/node.cljs b/src/squint/compiler/node.cljs
index 133c0e80..f1b21cd1 100644
--- a/src/squint/compiler/node.cljs
+++ b/src/squint/compiler/node.cljs
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@
                    (when-not (fs/existsSync out-path)
                      (fs/mkdirSync out-path #js {:recursive true}))
                    (when-not (fs/existsSync out-path)
-                     (throw (js/Error. (str "File not found, make sure output-dir is a valid path: ")
+                     (throw (js/Error. "File not found, make sure output-dir is a valid path: "
                                        {:output-dir output-dir
                                         :out-file out-file})))
                    (spit out-file javascript)