diff --git a/libguile/arrays.c b/libguile/arrays.c
index 1fd6d9245..8dc1d7888 100644
--- a/libguile/arrays.c
+++ b/libguile/arrays.c
@@ -241,12 +241,15 @@ scm_from_contiguous_typed_array (SCM type, SCM bounds, const void *bytes,
       if (byte_len / (sz / 8) != rlen)
         SCM_MISC_ERROR ("byte length and dimensions do not match", SCM_EOL);
     }
-  else
+  else if (sz < 8)
     {
       /* byte_len ?= ceil (rlen * sz / 8) */
       if (byte_len != (rlen * sz + 7) / 8)
         SCM_MISC_ERROR ("byte length and dimensions do not match", SCM_EOL);
     }
+  else
+    /* an internal guile error, really */
+    SCM_MISC_ERROR ("uniform elements larger than 8 bits must fill whole bytes", SCM_EOL);
 
   memcpy (elts, bytes, byte_len);
 
diff --git a/libguile/bytevectors.c b/libguile/bytevectors.c
index e0998197c..b9d2d8926 100644
--- a/libguile/bytevectors.c
+++ b/libguile/bytevectors.c
@@ -604,9 +604,12 @@ SCM_DEFINE (scm_uniform_array_to_bytevector, "uniform-array->bytevector",
   sz = scm_array_handle_uniform_element_bit_size (&h);
   if (sz >= 8 && ((sz % 8) == 0))
     byte_len = len * (sz / 8);
-  else
+  else if (sz < 8)
     /* byte_len = ceil (len * sz / 8) */
     byte_len = (len * sz + 7) / 8;
+  else
+    /* an internal guile error, really */
+    SCM_MISC_ERROR ("uniform elements larger than 8 bits must fill whole bytes", SCM_EOL);
 
   ret = make_bytevector (byte_len, SCM_ARRAY_ELEMENT_TYPE_VU8);
   memcpy (SCM_BYTEVECTOR_CONTENTS (ret), elts, byte_len);
diff --git a/module/ice-9/deprecated.scm b/module/ice-9/deprecated.scm
index 838df2df6..c55e13b28 100644
--- a/module/ice-9/deprecated.scm
+++ b/module/ice-9/deprecated.scm
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@
  #\y
  (lambda (c port)
    (issue-deprecation-warning
-    "The `#y' bitvector syntax is deprecated.  Use `bitvector' instead.")
+    "The `#y' bitvector syntax is deprecated.  Use `#*' instead.")
    (let ((x (read port)))
      (cond
       ((list? x)