diff --git a/crates/nu-cli/src/commands/shells.rs b/crates/nu-cli/src/commands/shells.rs
index 93d05b5193..3521dbfb1d 100644
--- a/crates/nu-cli/src/commands/shells.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-cli/src/commands/shells.rs
@@ -36,9 +36,9 @@ fn shells(args: CommandArgs, _registry: &CommandRegistry) -> Result<OutputStream
         let mut dict = TaggedDictBuilder::new(&tag);
 
         if index == (*args.shell_manager.current_shell).load(Ordering::SeqCst) {
-            dict.insert_untagged(" ", "X".to_string());
+            dict.insert_untagged("active", "X".to_string());
         } else {
-            dict.insert_untagged(" ", " ".to_string());
+            dict.insert_untagged("active", " ".to_string());
         }
         dict.insert_untagged("name", shell.name());
         dict.insert_untagged("path", shell.path());
diff --git a/crates/nu-cli/src/evaluate/evaluator.rs b/crates/nu-cli/src/evaluate/evaluator.rs
index c696aa6eb1..9ca7b95b80 100644
--- a/crates/nu-cli/src/evaluate/evaluator.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-cli/src/evaluate/evaluator.rs
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ fn evaluate_reference(
     match name {
         hir::Variable::It(_) => Ok(scope.it.value.clone().into_value(tag)),
         hir::Variable::Other(_, span) => match span.slice(source) {
-            x if x == "nu" => crate::evaluate::variables::nu(tag),
+            x if x == "$nu" => crate::evaluate::variables::nu(tag),
             x => Ok(scope
                 .vars
                 .get(x)
diff --git a/crates/nu-parser/src/parse.rs b/crates/nu-parser/src/parse.rs
index 15fd031644..e5344829a2 100644
--- a/crates/nu-parser/src/parse.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-parser/src/parse.rs
@@ -192,6 +192,7 @@ fn parse_full_column_path(lite_arg: &Spanned<String>) -> (SpannedExpression, Opt
 
         if head.is_none() {
             if current_part.starts_with('$') {
+                // We have the variable head
                 head = Some(Expression::variable(current_part, lite_arg.span));
             } else if let Ok(row_number) = current_part.parse::<u64>() {
                 output.push(