diff --git a/src/com/silverwrist/venice/htmlcheck/filters/EmoticonTagHandler.java b/src/com/silverwrist/venice/htmlcheck/filters/EmoticonTagHandler.java
index 633edbb..cf419be 100644
--- a/src/com/silverwrist/venice/htmlcheck/filters/EmoticonTagHandler.java
+++ b/src/com/silverwrist/venice/htmlcheck/filters/EmoticonTagHandler.java
@@ -91,7 +91,18 @@ public class EmoticonTagHandler implements Rewriter
   public MarkupData rewrite(String data, RewriterServices svc)
   {
     logger.debug("EmoticonTagHandler looking at: " + data);
-    RE r = new RE("ei:\\s*(\\w+)(?:\\s*/)?\\s*");
+    RE r = null;
+    try
+    { // compile regular expression
+      r = new RE("ei:\\s*(\\w+)(?:\\s*/)?\\s*");
+
+    } // end try
+    catch (RESyntaxException e)
+    { // something wicked this way comes
+      logger.fatal("WTF?!?!?!?",e);
+
+    } // end catch
+    
     if (!(r.match(data)))
       return null;
     String icon_name = r.getParen(1);
diff --git a/src/com/silverwrist/venice/ui/config/EmoticonManager.java b/src/com/silverwrist/venice/ui/config/EmoticonManager.java
index 9a830ee..dd3b14a 100644
--- a/src/com/silverwrist/venice/ui/config/EmoticonManager.java
+++ b/src/com/silverwrist/venice/ui/config/EmoticonManager.java
@@ -149,7 +149,18 @@ public class EmoticonManager
 
   public String rewriteText(RequestOutput out, String txt)
   {
-    RE r = new RE("<ei:\\s*(\\w+)(?:\\s*/)?\\s*>");
+    RE r = null;
+    try
+    { // create the regexp
+      r = new RE("<ei:\\s*(\\w+)(?:\\s*/)?\\s*>");
+
+    } // end try
+    catch (RESyntaxException e)
+    { // something wicked this way comes
+      logger.fatal("WTF?!?!?!?",e);
+
+    } // end catch
+
     if (!(r.match(txt)))
     { // null it out
       logger.debug("EmoticonManager.rewriteText matched nothing at all");