diff --git a/build_detect_platform b/build_detect_platform
index 27cc75eb4..ede941506 100755
--- a/build_detect_platform
+++ b/build_detect_platform
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ if test "$USE_SCRIBE"; then
   DIRS="$DIRS scribe "
 fi
 
-set -f # temporarily disable globbing so that our patterns aren't expanded
+set -f # temporarily disable globbing so that our patterns arent expanded
 PRUNE_TEST="-name *test*.cc -prune"
 PRUNE_BENCH="-name *_bench.cc -prune"
 PORTABLE_FILES=`find $DIRS $PRUNE_TEST -o $PRUNE_BENCH -o -name '*.cc' -print | sort | tr "\n" " "`
diff --git a/fbcode.gcc471.sh b/fbcode.gcc471.sh
index b518fed00..77d9f7add 100644
--- a/fbcode.gcc471.sh
+++ b/fbcode.gcc471.sh
@@ -33,7 +33,9 @@ THRIFT_INCLUDE+=" -I./thrift -I./thrift/gen-cpp -I./thrift/lib/cpp"
 THRIFT_LIBS=" -L $TOOLCHAIN_LIB_BASE/boost/boost-1.48.0/bef9365/lib"
 
 # use Intel SSE support for checksum calculations
-export USE_SSE=" -msse -msse4.2 "
+if test -z "$USE_SSE"; then
+  export USE_SSE=" -msse -msse4.2 "
+fi
 
 CC="$TOOLCHAIN_EXECUTABLES/gcc/gcc-4.7.1-glibc-2.14.1/bin/gcc" 
 CXX="$TOOLCHAIN_EXECUTABLES/gcc/gcc-4.7.1-glibc-2.14.1/bin/g++ $JINCLUDE $SNAPPY_INCLUDE $THRIFT_INCLUDE"