diff --git a/Lib/test/test_strftime.py b/Lib/test/test_strftime.py
index 2596287ce50..25cf935791d 100755
--- a/Lib/test/test_strftime.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_strftime.py
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ def strftest(now):
     nonstandard_expectations = (
 	# These are standard but don't have predictable output
 	('%c', fixasctime(time.asctime(now)), 'near-asctime() format'),
-	('%Z', tz, 'time zone name'),
+	('(%Z)', '(%s)' % tz, 'time zone name'),
 
 	# These are some platform specific extensions
 	('%D', '%02d/%02d/%02d' % (now[1], now[2], (now[0]%100)), 'mm/dd/yy'),
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_time.py b/Lib/test/test_time.py
index 85ea6ee5927..acc4d4106b8 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_time.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_time.py
@@ -16,8 +16,11 @@
 for directive in ('a', 'A', 'b', 'B', 'c', 'd', 'H', 'I',
 		  'j', 'm', 'M', 'p', 'S',
 		  'U', 'w', 'W', 'x', 'X', 'y', 'Y', 'Z', '%'):
-    format = '%' + directive
-    time.strftime(format, tt)
+    format = ' %' + directive
+    try:
+	time.strftime(format, tt)
+    except ValueError:
+	print 'conversion specifier:', format, ' failed.'
 
 time.timezone
 time.tzname