diff --git a/contrib/groff/eqn/neqn.sh b/contrib/groff/eqn/neqn.sh
index e10891eb2e6..f33b68e3b35 100644
--- a/contrib/groff/eqn/neqn.sh
+++ b/contrib/groff/eqn/neqn.sh
@@ -3,13 +3,12 @@
 # GNU eqn with groff -Tascii|-Tlatin1 is supported.
 
 # Default device.
-if test `expr "$LC_CTYPE" : ".*\.ISO_8859-1"` -gt 0 || \
-   test `expr "$LANG" : ".*\.ISO_8859-1"` -gt 0
+locale=${LC_CTYPE:-$LANG}
+if test `expr "$locale" : ".*\.ISO_8859-1"` -gt 0
 then
 	T=latin1
 else
-if test `expr "$LC_CTYPE" : ".*\.KOI8-R"` -gt 0 || \
-   test `expr "$LANG" : ".*\.KOI8-R"` -gt 0
+if test `expr "$locale" : ".*\.KOI8-R"` -gt 0
 then
 	T=koi8-r
 else
diff --git a/contrib/groff/nroff/nroff.sh b/contrib/groff/nroff/nroff.sh
index 25d9db26882..2515968b1d2 100755
--- a/contrib/groff/nroff/nroff.sh
+++ b/contrib/groff/nroff/nroff.sh
@@ -3,13 +3,12 @@
 
 prog="$0"
 # Default device.
-if test `expr "$LC_CTYPE" : ".*\.ISO_8859-1"` -gt 0 || \
-   test `expr "$LANG" : ".*\.ISO_8859-1"` -gt 0
+locale=${LC_CTYPE:-$LANG}
+if test `expr "$locale" : ".*\.ISO_8859-1"` -gt 0
 then
 	T=-Tlatin1
 else
-if test `expr "$LC_CTYPE" : ".*\.KOI8-R"` -gt 0 || \
-   test `expr "$LANG" : ".*\.KOI8-R"` -gt 0
+if test `expr "$locale" : ".*\.KOI8-R"` -gt 0
 then
 	T=-Tkoi8-r
 else
diff --git a/contrib/groff/src/preproc/eqn/neqn.sh b/contrib/groff/src/preproc/eqn/neqn.sh
index e10891eb2e6..f33b68e3b35 100644
--- a/contrib/groff/src/preproc/eqn/neqn.sh
+++ b/contrib/groff/src/preproc/eqn/neqn.sh
@@ -3,13 +3,12 @@
 # GNU eqn with groff -Tascii|-Tlatin1 is supported.
 
 # Default device.
-if test `expr "$LC_CTYPE" : ".*\.ISO_8859-1"` -gt 0 || \
-   test `expr "$LANG" : ".*\.ISO_8859-1"` -gt 0
+locale=${LC_CTYPE:-$LANG}
+if test `expr "$locale" : ".*\.ISO_8859-1"` -gt 0
 then
 	T=latin1
 else
-if test `expr "$LC_CTYPE" : ".*\.KOI8-R"` -gt 0 || \
-   test `expr "$LANG" : ".*\.KOI8-R"` -gt 0
+if test `expr "$locale" : ".*\.KOI8-R"` -gt 0
 then
 	T=koi8-r
 else
diff --git a/contrib/groff/src/roff/nroff/nroff.sh b/contrib/groff/src/roff/nroff/nroff.sh
index 25d9db26882..2515968b1d2 100755
--- a/contrib/groff/src/roff/nroff/nroff.sh
+++ b/contrib/groff/src/roff/nroff/nroff.sh
@@ -3,13 +3,12 @@
 
 prog="$0"
 # Default device.
-if test `expr "$LC_CTYPE" : ".*\.ISO_8859-1"` -gt 0 || \
-   test `expr "$LANG" : ".*\.ISO_8859-1"` -gt 0
+locale=${LC_CTYPE:-$LANG}
+if test `expr "$locale" : ".*\.ISO_8859-1"` -gt 0
 then
 	T=-Tlatin1
 else
-if test `expr "$LC_CTYPE" : ".*\.KOI8-R"` -gt 0 || \
-   test `expr "$LANG" : ".*\.KOI8-R"` -gt 0
+if test `expr "$locale" : ".*\.KOI8-R"` -gt 0
 then
 	T=-Tkoi8-r
 else