diff -Naur vte-0.11.10.orig/src/vte.c vte-0.11.10/src/vte.c
--- vte-0.11.10.orig/src/vte.c	2003-06-16 23:15:09.000000000 +0200
+++ vte-0.11.10/src/vte.c	2004-10-24 12:21:14.263558210 +0200
@@ -8214,6 +8214,10 @@
 	int i;
 	VteWordCharRange *range;
 	g_return_val_if_fail(VTE_IS_TERMINAL(terminal), FALSE);
+	/* Alphanumeric characters are always considered as word characters */
+	if (g_unichar_isalnum(c)) {
+		return TRUE;
+	}
 	/* If we have no array, or it's empty, assume the defaults. */
 	if ((terminal->pvt->word_chars == NULL) ||
 	    (terminal->pvt->word_chars->len == 0)) {
