diff --git a/t/t0614-reftable-fsck.sh b/t/t0614-reftable-fsck.sh
index 85cc47d67e..677eb9143c 100755
--- a/t/t0614-reftable-fsck.sh
+++ b/t/t0614-reftable-fsck.sh
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ test_expect_success "no errors reported on a well formed repository" '
 		done &&
 
 		# The repository should end up with multiple tables.
-		test_line_count ">" 1 .git/reftable/tables.list &&
+		test_line_count -gt 1 .git/reftable/tables.list &&
 
 		git refs verify 2>err &&
 		test_must_be_empty err
diff --git a/t/t5564-http-proxy.sh b/t/t5564-http-proxy.sh
index c3903faf2d..3bcbdef409 100755
--- a/t/t5564-http-proxy.sh
+++ b/t/t5564-http-proxy.sh
@@ -40,10 +40,10 @@ test_expect_success 'clone can prompt for proxy password' '
 
 start_socks() {
 	mkfifo socks_output &&
-	{
+	(
 		"$PERL_PATH" "$TEST_DIRECTORY/socks4-proxy.pl" "$1" >socks_output &
 		echo $! > "$TRASH_DIRECTORY/socks.pid"
-	} &&
+	) &&
 	read line <socks_output &&
 	test "$line" = ready
 }