diff --git a/crates/nu-cli/src/util.rs b/crates/nu-cli/src/util.rs
index bc227643b5..74101a36f4 100644
--- a/crates/nu-cli/src/util.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-cli/src/util.rs
@@ -109,19 +109,14 @@ pub fn gather_parent_env_vars(engine_state: &mut EngineState) {
         );
     }
 
-    fn escape(input: &str) -> String {
-        let output = input.replace('\\', "\\\\");
-        output.replace('"', "\\\"")
-    }
-
     fn put_env_to_fake_file(name: &str, val: &str, fake_env_file: &mut String) {
-        fake_env_file.push('"');
-        fake_env_file.push_str(&escape(name));
-        fake_env_file.push('"');
+        fake_env_file.push('`');
+        fake_env_file.push_str(name);
+        fake_env_file.push('`');
         fake_env_file.push('=');
-        fake_env_file.push('"');
-        fake_env_file.push_str(&escape(val));
-        fake_env_file.push('"');
+        fake_env_file.push('`');
+        fake_env_file.push_str(val);
+        fake_env_file.push('`');
         fake_env_file.push('\n');
     }
 
diff --git a/crates/nu-parser/src/lex.rs b/crates/nu-parser/src/lex.rs
index c8a5aa8f93..c4fa1612ee 100644
--- a/crates/nu-parser/src/lex.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-parser/src/lex.rs
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ pub fn lex_item(
         } else if is_special_item(&block_level, c, special_tokens) && token_start == *curr_offset {
             *curr_offset += 1;
             break;
-        } else if c == b'\'' || c == b'"' {
+        } else if c == b'\'' || c == b'"' || c == b'`' {
             // We encountered the opening quote of a string literal.
             quote_start = Some(c);
         } else if c == b'[' {
diff --git a/crates/nu-parser/src/parser.rs b/crates/nu-parser/src/parser.rs
index 859d464197..7d59222c2c 100644
--- a/crates/nu-parser/src/parser.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-parser/src/parser.rs
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ pub fn is_math_expression_like(bytes: &[u8]) -> bool {
         || b == b'$'
         || b == b'"'
         || b == b'\''
+        || b == b'`'
         || b == b'-'
 }
 
@@ -89,6 +90,7 @@ fn is_variable(bytes: &[u8]) -> bool {
 pub fn trim_quotes(bytes: &[u8]) -> &[u8] {
     if (bytes.starts_with(b"\"") && bytes.ends_with(b"\"") && bytes.len() > 1)
         || (bytes.starts_with(b"\'") && bytes.ends_with(b"\'") && bytes.len() > 1)
+        || (bytes.starts_with(b"`") && bytes.ends_with(b"`") && bytes.len() > 1)
     {
         &bytes[1..(bytes.len() - 1)]
     } else {
@@ -1482,10 +1484,16 @@ pub fn parse_string_interpolation(
                 if byte == b'"' {
                     delimiter_stack.pop();
                 }
+            } else if let Some(b'`') = delimiter_stack.last() {
+                if byte == b'`' {
+                    delimiter_stack.pop();
+                }
             } else if byte == b'\'' {
                 delimiter_stack.push(b'\'')
             } else if byte == b'"' {
                 delimiter_stack.push(b'"');
+            } else if byte == b'`' {
+                delimiter_stack.push(b'`')
             } else if byte == b'(' {
                 delimiter_stack.push(b')');
             } else if byte == b')' {
@@ -2681,7 +2689,11 @@ pub fn parse_var_with_opt_type(
 ) -> (Expression, Option<ParseError>) {
     let bytes = working_set.get_span_contents(spans[*spans_idx]).to_vec();
 
-    if bytes.contains(&b' ') || bytes.contains(&b'"') || bytes.contains(&b'\'') {
+    if bytes.contains(&b' ')
+        || bytes.contains(&b'"')
+        || bytes.contains(&b'\'')
+        || bytes.contains(&b'`')
+    {
         return (
             garbage(spans[*spans_idx]),
             Some(ParseError::VariableNotValid(spans[*spans_idx])),