diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e49141c..d47a2a6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -684,8 +684,8 @@ hyphenated field or name can't be an operand.
 { "format": "{net} x {qty} = {calc(net * qty, 2)}", "net": ["19.99", "5.00"], "qty": ["3", "7"] }
 ```
 
-Renders e.g. `19.99 x 3 = 59.97`. A name is the operand `{lat}` prints, so the calc computes
-from the pick shown:
+Renders e.g. `19.99 x 3 = 59.97`. A name is the operand `{lat}` prints, so the calc
+computes from the pick shown:
 
 ```json
 "{/misc.coordinate.lat as lat}{lat}° is {calc(lat * 60, 0)} arcminutes"
@@ -693,9 +693,9 @@ from the pick shown:
 
 Renders e.g. `5.338477° is 320 arcminutes`.
 
-A result that rounds to zero prints unsigned — `0`, `0.00` — as `{float()}`'s does. An operand that can never be a number (`"abc"`,
-or a choice of such) is rejected at load, as is a division by a constant zero
-(`1/0`, or a fixed `"0"` field); an operand that sometimes is not a number yields
+A result that rounds to zero prints unsigned — `0`, `0.00` — as `{float()}`'s does. An
+operand that can never be a number (`"abc"`, or a choice of such) is rejected at load, as
+is a division by a constant zero (`1/0`, or a fixed `"0"` field); an operand that sometimes is not a number yields
 `NaN`, and a division by one that is not constant `Inf` — both print rather than
 fail, except in a [typed column](#datatype), which must prove neither happens.
 
diff --git a/builtins.go b/builtins.go
index 58b7e1d..4819592 100644
--- a/builtins.go
+++ b/builtins.go
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ var builtins = withTransforms(map[string]builtin{
 	}},
 	"date": {arity: -1, checkArgs: dateArgs, prep: datePrep},
 	"time": {arity: -1, checkArgs: timeArg, prep: timePrep},
-	"calc": {arity: -1, checkArgs: checkCalc, prep: calcPrep, operands: calcOperands},
+	"calc": {arity: -1, checkArgs: checkCalc, prep: calcPrep, operands: calcOperands, noRefOperands: true},
 	// seq is the one stateful builtin: a per-generator counter from 1, advancing on
 	// each call. An optional name selects an independent counter; no name uses the
 	// default one. Deterministic by construction, so seeded output stays stable.
diff --git a/builtins_test.go b/builtins_test.go
index eb4d5fd..eca2dbd 100644
--- a/builtins_test.go
+++ b/builtins_test.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/base64"
 	"fmt"
 	"regexp"
+	"slices"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
@@ -447,3 +448,14 @@ func TestArgErrorsNameTheSpelling(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func TestNoRefOperandsMatchesTheOperandGrammar(t *testing.T) {
+	for name, b := range builtins {
+		if b.operands == nil {
+			continue
+		}
+		if takesRef := slices.ContainsFunc(b.operands([]string{"/x"}), isRef); b.noRefOperands == takesRef {
+			t.Errorf("%s: noRefOperands = %v, but its operands func reads a reference: %v", name, b.noRefOperands, takesRef)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/calc.go b/calc.go
index 95599c6..572d22f 100644
--- a/calc.go
+++ b/calc.go
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ func checkCalcNames(path string, t *template) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-// operandNodes lists every node each operand of o may render, once linkNames compiled the names.
+// operandNodes lists every node each operand of o may render, once its template and names link.
 func operandNodes(o op) func(name string) []node {
 	return func(name string) []node {
 		a := o.operands[slices.IndexFunc(o.operands, func(a arm) bool { return a.head == name })]
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ func operandNodes(o op) func(name string) []node {
 // operand lists every node an operand may render, nil while that is unknown.
 func checkOperands(text string, expr calcNode, operand func(name string) []node) error {
 	for _, name := range calcVars(expr) {
-		if rendered, never := noneNumeric(operand(name)); never {
+		if rendered, never := allNeverNumeric(operand(name)); never {
 			return fmt.Errorf("calc(%q): operand %q is never a number: it renders %q", text, name, rendered)
 		}
 	}
@@ -207,13 +207,13 @@ func neverNumeric(n node) (text string, never bool) {
 			return lit, true
 		}
 	case *choice:
-		return noneNumeric(n.items)
+		return allNeverNumeric(n.items)
 	}
 	return "", false
 }
 
-// noneNumeric reports nodes no render of which is a number, and none where there are none.
-func noneNumeric(nodes []node) (text string, never bool) {
+// allNeverNumeric reports nodes no render of which is a number, and none where there are none.
+func allNeverNumeric(nodes []node) (text string, never bool) {
 	for _, n := range nodes {
 		t, nodeNever := neverNumeric(n)
 		if !nodeNever {
diff --git a/format.go b/format.go
index b4069a0..bab0c42 100644
--- a/format.go
+++ b/format.go
@@ -133,9 +133,9 @@ type builtin struct {
 	// operands names the fields the call reads, which expand renders for it; nil
 	// for a builtin that reads none.
 	operands func(args []string) []string
-	// refOperands says an operand may be a reference, so a name read once there has the bare
-	// reference as a second spelling.
-	refOperands bool
+	// noRefOperands says no operand can be a reference, so a name read once there has no
+	// second spelling.
+	noRefOperands bool
 	// proveNumber bounds the number a call's text reads as, token its body, and says which
 	// datatypes that text is not; set it where every render reads as a finite number, which
 	// makes the call a calc operand, and leave it nil otherwise.
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ func checkReads(t formatToken, fields map[string]node, operands bool) ([]unbound
 			return nil, err
 		}
 		a := splitArm(name, nil)
-		unbound = append(unbound, unboundRead{head: a.head, tail: joinSegments(a.tail), body: t.body, operand: operands, noRef: operands && !builtins[t.fn].refOperands, err: err})
+		unbound = append(unbound, unboundRead{head: a.head, tail: joinSegments(a.tail), body: t.body, operand: operands, noRef: operands && builtins[t.fn].noRefOperands, err: err})
 	}
 	return unbound, nil
 }
diff --git a/name_test.go b/name_test.go
index 7cc6656..721234b 100644
--- a/name_test.go
+++ b/name_test.go
@@ -206,8 +206,6 @@ func TestNameErrors(t *testing.T) {
 			`write {/word}`},
 		{"read once whole, as a transform's operand", map[string]string{"word": `["a","b"]`, "card": `"{/word as w}{uppercase(w)}"`},
 			`write /word where it is read`},
-		{"read once whole, as a calc's operand", map[string]string{"n": `["2","3"]`, "card": `"{/n as k}{calc(k * 2)}"`},
-			""},
 		{"rendered twice where a path reads it", map[string]string{"word": `{"format":"{w}-{w}","w":["a","b"]}`, "card": `"{/word as n}{n}|{n.w}"`},
 			`{n} renders field "w" twice`},
 		{"a binding in a cell", map[string]string{"word": `["a","b"]`, "t.json": `{"format":"{k}","rows":"t.tsv","key":"k"}`, "t.tsv": "k\tc\nx\t{/word as w}{w}{w}\ny\tz\n"},
diff --git a/todo.md b/todo.md
index 4aaa488..88e246a 100644
--- a/todo.md
+++ b/todo.md
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ Shape: T = table, t = template, c = choice.
 - Deletes the token-order rules (`drawsApart`, `readFold`, `branches`, the pairwise replay), the expansion hold fence, `drawGroup`, the own-family fence and the cell-reference fences, and revises the decisions that point here. The remaining draw checks are names, paths through names, cycles and the repeat cap.
 - Fixes on the way: `{/sel}|{/sel}` panics out of `Fake` today where two draws land on rows whose cells select different rows of another table; it must render.
 - Rewrites the README's Computation, References, Draw group, Correlated fields, Linked tables, Names and "One draw, one spelling" sections; the Linked tables section says which pick's weights govern a family, since the bound row decides.
-- Keeps `{/n as k}{calc(k * 2)}` loading, since a calc operand cannot be a reference. Widens the refusal of a name read once to every binding, a path into it or a reference path bound included, since `{n.x}` read once is then `{/ref.x}`, and deletes the names fence over draw groups and nested repeats (`checkUses`, `readsHeld`).
+- Keeps a name read once where no reference can stand, such as `{/n as k}{calc(k * 2)}`, loading. Widens the refusal of a name read once to every binding, a path into it or a reference path bound included, since `{n.x}` read once is then `{/ref.x}`, and deletes the names fence over draw groups and nested repeats (`checkUses`, `readsHeld`).
 - Say how a record's columns and a struct's tags read one pick, so the `first` and `sex` columns of one `sv_SE.person` record, or one struct's tags reading them, still describe one person.
 - Re-pin seeded output and `testdata/shipped_shape.txt` in their own commits; the CHANGELOG names the grammar change.
 
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ Needs items 4 and 90. The decision "comprehension floor: every dimension and the
 
 ### 91. Accept a path through a name as a `calc` operand, so `{calc(t.population * 2)}` computes from the row `{t}` prints.
 
-A calc operand parses as a bare identifier, so `{/misc.territory as t}{calc(t.population * 2)}` fails with `unexpected ".population"`, and no binding can hold the column alone beside the row. Item 4 removes today's route, a field holding the reference path, which the expansion hold keeps for the render. Resolve the path through `linkName`'s leaves, as `operandNodes` does for a bare name.
+Needs item 4. A calc operand parses as a bare identifier, so `{/misc.territory as t}{calc(t.population * 2)}` fails with `unexpected ".population"`, and no binding can hold the column alone beside the row. Item 4 removes today's route, a field holding the reference path, which the expansion hold keeps for the render. Resolve the path through `linkName`'s leaves, as `operandNodes` does for a bare name.
 
 ### 89. Fail `New` without `WithSeed`, naming the option, and seed the CLI from the system.
 
diff --git a/transform.go b/transform.go
index 9330c50..17d7f4e 100644
--- a/transform.go
+++ b/transform.go
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ func withTransforms(calls map[string]builtin) map[string]builtin {
 		if _, clash := calls[name]; clash {
 			panic(internalError("%s is registered as a builtin and a transform", name))
 		}
-		calls[name] = builtin{arity: 1, checkArgs: transformArg, prep: transformPrep(fn), operands: transformOperand, refOperands: true}
+		calls[name] = builtin{arity: 1, checkArgs: transformArg, prep: transformPrep(fn), operands: transformOperand}
 	}
 	return calls
 }