diff --git a/doc/ref/api-control.texi b/doc/ref/api-control.texi
index 25ae85bf3..b62c0d6fe 100644
--- a/doc/ref/api-control.texi
+++ b/doc/ref/api-control.texi
@@ -1669,7 +1669,7 @@ scm_foo (SCM s1, SCM s2)
 
   c_res = foo (c_s1, c_s2);
   if (c_res == NULL)
-    scm_misc_error ("foo", "out of memory!", SCM_EOL);
+    scm_report_out_of_memory ();
 
   scm_dynwind_end ();
 
diff --git a/libguile/deprecated.h b/libguile/deprecated.h
index 543d1b813..ba249da13 100644
--- a/libguile/deprecated.h
+++ b/libguile/deprecated.h
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #ifndef SCM_DEPRECATED_H
 #define SCM_DEPRECATED_H
 
-/* Copyright 2003-2007,2009-2018
+/* Copyright 2003-2007,2009-2018,2020
      Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 
    This file is part of Guile.
@@ -111,6 +111,8 @@ typedef ptrdiff_t scm_t_ptrdiff SCM_DEPRECATED_TYPE;
 typedef struct scm_thread scm_i_thread SCM_DEPRECATED_TYPE;
 #undef SCM_DEPRECATED_TYPE
 
+#define SCM_MEMORY_ERROR do { scm_report_out_of_memory (); } while (0)
+
 SCM_DEPRECATED char* scm_find_executable (const char *name);
 
 void scm_i_init_deprecated (void);