diff --git a/complete.cpp b/complete.cpp
index a4f6a9aaf..11d689c64 100644
--- a/complete.cpp
+++ b/complete.cpp
@@ -1521,8 +1521,9 @@ void completer_t::complete_param_expand( const wcstring &sstr, bool do_file)
     
     if (! do_file)
         flags |= EXPAND_SKIP_WILDCARDS;
-        
-    if (type == COMPLETE_AUTOSUGGEST)
+    
+    /* Squelch file descriptions per issue 254 */
+    if (type == COMPLETE_AUTOSUGGEST || do_file)
         flags |= EXPAND_NO_DESCRIPTIONS;
 	
 	if( expand_string( comp_str,
diff --git a/share/functions/__fish_complete_cd.fish b/share/functions/__fish_complete_cd.fish
index 73307e5ee..cb10b7cf3 100644
--- a/share/functions/__fish_complete_cd.fish
+++ b/share/functions/__fish_complete_cd.fish
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+function __fish_complete_cd -d "Completions for the cd command"
+	false
+end
+
+
 function __fish_complete_cd -d "Completions for the cd command"
 	#
 	# We can't simply use __fish_complete_directories because of the CDPATH
@@ -13,11 +18,15 @@ function __fish_complete_cd -d "Completions for the cd command"
 	else
 		set mycdpath $CDPATH
 	end
+	
+	# Note how this works: we evaluate $ctoken*/
+	# That trailing slash ensures that we only expand directories
 
     set -l ctoken (commandline -ct)
 	if echo $ctoken | sgrep '^/\|^\./\|^\.\./\|^~/' >/dev/null
 		# This is an absolute search path
-		eval printf '\%s\\tDirectory\\n' $ctoken\*/
+		# Squelch descriptions per issue 254
+		eval printf '\%s\\n' $ctoken\*/
 	else
 		# This is a relative search path
 		# Iterate over every directory in CDPATH
@@ -30,7 +39,14 @@ function __fish_complete_cd -d "Completions for the cd command"
 			builtin cd $wd
 			eval builtin cd $i
 
-			eval printf '"%s\tDirectory in "'$i'"\n"' $ctoken\*/
+			# What we would really like to do is skip descriptions if all
+			# valid paths are in the same directory, but we don't know how to
+			# do that yet; so instead skip descriptions if CDPATH is just .
+			if test "$mycdpath" = .
+				eval printf '"%s\n"' $ctoken\*/
+			else
+				eval printf '"%s\tin "'$i'"\n"' $ctoken\*/
+			end
 		end
 	end
 
diff --git a/wildcard.cpp b/wildcard.cpp
index e3f348a50..5a87eeb27 100644
--- a/wildcard.cpp
+++ b/wildcard.cpp
@@ -610,8 +610,10 @@ static void wildcard_completion_allocate( std::vector<completion_t> &list,
 		}
 	}
 	
+    
+    bool wants_desc = ! (expand_flags & EXPAND_NO_DESCRIPTIONS);
 	wcstring desc;
-    if (! (expand_flags & EXPAND_NO_DESCRIPTIONS))
+    if (wants_desc)
         desc = file_get_desc( fullname.c_str(), lstat_res, lbuf, stat_res, buf, stat_errno );
     
 	if( sz >= 0 && S_ISDIR(buf.st_mode) )
@@ -619,13 +621,20 @@ static void wildcard_completion_allocate( std::vector<completion_t> &list,
 		flags = flags | COMPLETE_NO_SPACE;
         munged_completion = completion;
         munged_completion.push_back(L'/');
-        sb.append(desc);
+        if (wants_desc)
+            sb.append(desc);
 	}
 	else
 	{
-        sb.append(desc);
-        sb.append(L", ");
-        sb.append(format_size(sz));
+        if (wants_desc)
+        {
+            if (! desc.empty())
+            {
+                sb.append(desc);
+                sb.append(L", ");
+            }
+            sb.append(format_size(sz));
+        }
 	}
     
     const wcstring &completion_to_use = munged_completion.empty() ? completion : munged_completion;
@@ -1089,8 +1098,9 @@ int wildcard_expand( const wchar_t *wc,
 
 int wildcard_expand_string(const wcstring &wc, const wcstring &base_dir, expand_flags_t flags, std::vector<completion_t> &outputs )
 {
+    // PCA: not convinced this temporary variable is really necessary
     std::vector<completion_t> lst;
-    int res = wildcard_expand(wc.c_str(), base_dir.c_str(), flags, lst);    
+    int res = wildcard_expand(wc.c_str(), base_dir.c_str(), flags, lst);
     outputs.insert(outputs.end(), lst.begin(), lst.end());
     return res;
 }