diff --git a/spec/ruby/core/dir/home_spec.rb b/spec/ruby/core/dir/home_spec.rb
index 8180ce38be..8935eb4f4b 100644
--- a/spec/ruby/core/dir/home_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/ruby/core/dir/home_spec.rb
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ describe "Dir.home" do
 
   platform_is_not :windows do
     it "returns the named user's home directory, from the user database, as a string if called with an argument" do
-      Dir.home(ENV['USER']).should == `echo ~#{ENV['USER']}`.chomp
+      Dir.home(ENV['USER']).should == `/bin/echo ~#{ENV['USER']}`.chomp
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/spec/ruby/core/file/expand_path_spec.rb b/spec/ruby/core/file/expand_path_spec.rb
index b7363fefa9..0b48c64154 100644
--- a/spec/ruby/core/file/expand_path_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/ruby/core/file/expand_path_spec.rb
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ describe "File.expand_path" do
   platform_is_not :windows do
     before do
       @var_home = ENV['HOME'].chomp('/')
-      @db_home = `echo ~#{ENV['USER']}`.chomp
+      @db_home = `/bin/echo ~#{ENV['USER']}`.chomp
     end
 
     # FIXME: these are insane!