diff --git a/rc/filetype/kakrc.kak b/rc/filetype/kakrc.kak
index 65ef2bdc..32080b6e 100644
--- a/rc/filetype/kakrc.kak
+++ b/rc/filetype/kakrc.kak
@@ -90,6 +90,8 @@ add-highlighter shared/kakrc/double_string/escape regex '""' 0:default+b
 add-highlighter shared/kakrc/single_string/fill fill string
 add-highlighter shared/kakrc/single_string/escape regex "''" 0:default+b
 
+add-highlighter shared/kak ref kakrc
+
 # Commands
 # ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
 
diff --git a/rc/filetype/markdown.kak b/rc/filetype/markdown.kak
index 599dfd5d..abd73481 100644
--- a/rc/filetype/markdown.kak
+++ b/rc/filetype/markdown.kak
@@ -54,13 +54,12 @@ evaluate-commands %sh{
     ruby rust sass scala scss sh swift toml tupfile typescript yaml sql
   "
   for lang in ${languages}; do
-    [ "${lang}" = kak ] && ref=kakrc || ref="${lang}"
     printf 'add-highlighter shared/markdown/%s region -match-capture ^(\h*)```\h*(%s\\b|\\{[.=]?%s\\})   ^(\h*)``` regions\n' "${lang}" "${lang}" "${lang}"
     printf 'add-highlighter shared/markdown/%s/ default-region fill meta\n' "${lang}"
-    printf 'add-highlighter shared/markdown/%s/inner region \A\h*```[^\\n]*\K (?=```) ref %s\n' "${lang}" "${ref}"
+    printf 'add-highlighter shared/markdown/%s/inner region \A\h*```[^\\n]*\K (?=```) ref %s\n' "${lang}" "${lang}"
     printf 'add-highlighter shared/markdown/listblock/%s region -match-capture ^(\h*)```\h*(%s\\b|\\{[.=]?%s\\})   ^(\h*)``` regions\n' "${lang}" "${lang}" "${lang}"
     printf 'add-highlighter shared/markdown/listblock/%s/ default-region fill meta\n' "${lang}"
-    printf 'add-highlighter shared/markdown/listblock/%s/inner region \A\h*```[^\\n]*\K (?=```) ref %s\n' "${lang}" "${ref}"
+    printf 'add-highlighter shared/markdown/listblock/%s/inner region \A\h*```[^\\n]*\K (?=```) ref %s\n' "${lang}" "${lang}"
   done
 }
 
diff --git a/rc/filetype/restructuredtext.kak b/rc/filetype/restructuredtext.kak
index b1a69806..90c61f40 100644
--- a/rc/filetype/restructuredtext.kak
+++ b/rc/filetype/restructuredtext.kak
@@ -32,8 +32,7 @@ evaluate-commands %sh{
               julia kak kickstart latex lisp lua makefile moon objc \
               perl pug python ragel ruby rust sass scala scss sh swift \
               tupfile yaml; do
-        if [ "$ft" = kak ]; then ref="kakrc"; else ref="$ft"; fi
-        printf 'add-highlighter shared/restructuredtext/%s region %s %s ref %s\n' "$ft" "\.\.\h*code-block::\h*$ft\h*\n" '^(?=\S)' "$ref"
+        printf 'add-highlighter shared/restructuredtext/%s region %s %s ref %s\n' "$ft" "\.\.\h*code-block::\h*$ft\h*\n" '^(?=\S)' "$ft"
     done
 }