diff --git a/lib/modules/Standards.pmod/URI.pike b/lib/modules/Standards.pmod/URI.pike
index eb4843a7289d7a8ee65d4b932a6c6fa7e95d8dd9..91abe14e7da5e1f3ecc8ad8a11103b133018788f 100644
--- a/lib/modules/Standards.pmod/URI.pike
+++ b/lib/modules/Standards.pmod/URI.pike
@@ -280,7 +280,8 @@ void reparse_uri(this_program|string|void base_uri)
   // DWIM for "www.cnn.com" style input, when parsed in the context of
   // base "http://".
   if( !has_prefix(uri, "//") && !scheme && this::base_uri?->scheme &&
-      !sizeof(this::base_uri->authority || "") &&
+      this::base_uri->authority &&
+      !sizeof(this::base_uri->authority) &&
       !sizeof(this::base_uri->path))
   {
     DEBUG("DWIM authority: %O\n", uri);