diff --git a/ase/macros.h b/ase/macros.h
index c01d534d..eabc2f0e 100644
--- a/ase/macros.h
+++ b/ase/macros.h
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * $Id: macros.h,v 1.4 2005-01-17 03:12:56 bacon Exp $
+ * $Id: macros.h,v 1.5 2005-01-21 04:17:50 bacon Exp $
  */
 
 #ifndef _XP_MACROS_H_
@@ -27,14 +27,14 @@
 #define XP_QUOTE(val)   __XP_QUOTE(val)
 #define __XP_QUOTE(val) #val
 
-#define XP_MCHAR(ch)    ch
-#define XP_MTEXT(txt)   txt
+#define XP_MCHAR(ch)    (ch)
+#define XP_MTEXT(txt)   (txt)
 
 /* TODO: if the compiler doesn't have the built-in wchar_t support
  *       XP_WCHAR & XP_WTEXT must be defined differently.
  */
-#define XP_WCHAR(ch)    L##ch
-#define XP_WTEXT(txt)   L##txt
+#define XP_WCHAR(ch)    (L##ch)
+#define XP_WTEXT(txt)   (L##txt)
 
 #ifdef XP_CHAR_IS_MCHAR
 #define XP_CHAR(ch)   XP_MCHAR(ch)