diff --git a/src/allmydata/test/test_runner.py b/src/allmydata/test/test_runner.py
index 97df7404e..a8c261214 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/test/test_runner.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/test/test_runner.py
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ class BinTahoe(common_util.SignalMixin, unittest.TestCase, RunBinTahoeMixin):
     @inlineCallbacks
     def test_escape_in_eliot_destination(self):
         out, err, rc_or_sig = yield self.run_bintahoe([
-            "--eliot-destination=file:\\foo",
+            "--eliot-destination=file:@foo",
         ])
         self.assertEqual(1, rc_or_sig)
         self.assertIn("Unsupported escape character", out)
diff --git a/src/allmydata/util/eliotutil.py b/src/allmydata/util/eliotutil.py
index e49b02a5f..53354d0d5 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/util/eliotutil.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/util/eliotutil.py
@@ -432,10 +432,15 @@ class _DestinationParser(object):
         )
 
     def _parse_file(self, kind, arg_text):
-        # Reserve the possibility of an escape character in the future.
-        if u"\\" in arg_text:
+        # Reserve the possibility of an escape character in the future.  \ is
+        # the standard choice but it's the path separator on Windows which
+        # pretty much ruins it in this context.  Most other symbols already
+        # have some shell-assigned meaning which makes them treacherous to use
+        # in a CLI interface.  Eliminating all such dangerous symbols leaves
+        # approximately @.
+        if u"@" in arg_text:
             raise ValueError(
-                u"Unsupported escape character (\\) in destination text ({!r}).".format(arg_text),
+                u"Unsupported escape character (@) in destination text ({!r}).".format(arg_text),
             )
         arg_list = arg_text.split(u":")
         path_name = arg_list.pop(0)