diff --git a/stepmania/src/EnumHelper.cpp b/stepmania/src/EnumHelper.cpp
index 6cdde8a600..51776c33ff 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/EnumHelper.cpp
+++ b/stepmania/src/EnumHelper.cpp
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 #include "EnumHelper.h"
 #include "ThemeManager.h"
 
-CString GetThemedString( CCStringRef sClass, CCStringRef sValue )
+CString GetThemedString( const CString &sClass, const CString &sValue )
 {
 	return THEME->GetMetric( sClass, sValue );
 }
diff --git a/stepmania/src/StdString.h b/stepmania/src/StdString.h
index 395e869b78..6a8105025b 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/StdString.h
+++ b/stepmania/src/StdString.h
@@ -305,6 +305,8 @@ typedef char*			PSTR;
 // the more portable, standard way of doing things, while the other is the
 // non-standard, but often significantly faster Visual C++ way.
 // =============================================================================
+namespace StdString
+{
 
 // -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // sslen: strlen/wcslen wrappers
@@ -1303,6 +1305,8 @@ struct StdStringEqualsNoCaseA
 //	}
 //}
 
+}	// namespace StdString
+
 #if defined(_MSC_VER) && (_MSC_VER > 1100)
 	#pragma warning (pop)
 #endif
diff --git a/stepmania/src/global.h b/stepmania/src/global.h
index 6537ab3ad7..0881a665d6 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/global.h
+++ b/stepmania/src/global.h
@@ -134,8 +134,7 @@ void ShowWarning( const char *file, int line, const char *message ); // don't pu
 
 /* Use CStdString: */
 #include "StdString.h"
-
-typedef const CString& CCStringRef;
+using namespace StdString;
 
 /* Include this here to make sure our assertion handler is always
  * used.  (This file is a dependency of most everything anyway,