diff --git a/src/parse_tree.cpp b/src/parse_tree.cpp
index 0f877431e..a284b346d 100644
--- a/src/parse_tree.cpp
+++ b/src/parse_tree.cpp
@@ -374,8 +374,8 @@ class parse_ll_t {
 
     void parse_error_unexpected_token(const wchar_t *expected, parse_token_t token);
     void parse_error(parse_token_t token, parse_error_code_t code, const wchar_t *format, ...);
-    void parse_error_at_location(size_t location, parse_error_code_t code, const wchar_t *format,
-                                 ...);
+    void parse_error_at_location(size_t source_start, size_t source_length, size_t error_location,
+                                 parse_error_code_t code, const wchar_t *format, ...);
     void parse_error_failed_production(struct parse_stack_element_t &elem, parse_token_t token);
     void parse_error_unbalancing_token(parse_token_t token);
 
@@ -608,7 +608,8 @@ void parse_ll_t::parse_error(parse_token_t token, parse_error_code_t code, const
     }
 }
 
-void parse_ll_t::parse_error_at_location(size_t source_location, parse_error_code_t code,
+void parse_ll_t::parse_error_at_location(size_t source_start, size_t source_length,
+                                         size_t error_location, parse_error_code_t code,
                                          const wchar_t *fmt, ...) {
     this->fatal_errored = true;
     if (this->should_generate_error_messages) {
@@ -621,8 +622,8 @@ void parse_ll_t::parse_error_at_location(size_t source_location, parse_error_cod
         err.code = code;
         va_end(va);
 
-        err.source_start = source_location;
-        err.source_length = 0;
+        err.source_start = source_start;
+        err.source_length = source_length;
         this->errors.push_back(err);
     }
 }
@@ -733,8 +734,10 @@ void parse_ll_t::report_tokenizer_error(const tokenizer_t &tokenizer, const tok_
             break;
         }
     }
-    this->parse_error_at_location(tok.offset + tok.error_offset, parse_error_code, L"%ls",
-                                  tokenizer.text_of(tok).c_str());
+
+    this->parse_error_at_location(tok.offset, tok.length, tok.offset + tok.error_offset,
+                                  parse_error_code, L"%ls",
+                                  error_message_for_code(tok.error).c_str());
 }
 
 void parse_ll_t::parse_error_unexpected_token(const wchar_t *expected, parse_token_t token) {
@@ -811,8 +814,9 @@ bool parse_ll_t::report_error_for_unclosed_block() {
     }
     if (cursor->source_start != NODE_OFFSET_INVALID) {
         const wcstring node_desc = block_type_user_presentable_description(block_node->type);
-        this->parse_error_at_location(cursor->source_start, parse_error_generic,
-                                      L"Missing end to balance this %ls", node_desc.c_str());
+        this->parse_error_at_location(cursor->source_start, 0, cursor->source_start,
+                                      parse_error_generic, L"Missing end to balance this %ls",
+                                      node_desc.c_str());
         reported_error = true;
     }
     return reported_error;
@@ -1098,8 +1102,6 @@ bool parse_tree_from_string(const wcstring &str, parse_tree_flags_t parse_flags,
 
     if (parse_flags & parse_flag_show_blank_lines) tok_options |= TOK_SHOW_BLANK_LINES;
 
-    if (errors == NULL) tok_options |= TOK_SQUASH_ERRORS;
-
     tokenizer_t tok(str.c_str(), tok_options);
 
     // We are an LL(2) parser. We pass two tokens at a time. New tokens come in at index 1. Seed our
diff --git a/src/parse_util.cpp b/src/parse_util.cpp
index 9c8b681bc..24007a988 100644
--- a/src/parse_util.cpp
+++ b/src/parse_util.cpp
@@ -371,7 +371,7 @@ void parse_util_token_extent(const wchar_t *buff, size_t cursor_pos, const wchar
 
     const wcstring buffcpy = wcstring(cmdsubst_begin, cmdsubst_end - cmdsubst_begin);
 
-    tokenizer_t tok(buffcpy.c_str(), TOK_ACCEPT_UNFINISHED | TOK_SQUASH_ERRORS);
+    tokenizer_t tok(buffcpy.c_str(), TOK_ACCEPT_UNFINISHED);
     tok_t token;
     while (tok.next(&token)) {
         size_t tok_begin = token.offset;
@@ -474,7 +474,7 @@ void parse_util_get_parameter_info(const wcstring &cmd, const size_t pos, wchar_
     size_t prev_pos = 0;
     wchar_t last_quote = L'\0';
 
-    tokenizer_t tok(cmd.c_str(), TOK_ACCEPT_UNFINISHED | TOK_SQUASH_ERRORS);
+    tokenizer_t tok(cmd.c_str(), TOK_ACCEPT_UNFINISHED);
     tok_t token;
     while (tok.next(&token)) {
         if (token.offset > pos) break;
diff --git a/src/reader.cpp b/src/reader.cpp
index 04b26704d..7f99a1148 100644
--- a/src/reader.cpp
+++ b/src/reader.cpp
@@ -2316,7 +2316,7 @@ static wchar_t unescaped_quote(const wcstring &str, size_t pos) {
 
 /// Returns true if the last token is a comment.
 static bool text_ends_in_comment(const wcstring &text) {
-    tokenizer_t tok(text.c_str(), TOK_ACCEPT_UNFINISHED | TOK_SHOW_COMMENTS | TOK_SQUASH_ERRORS);
+    tokenizer_t tok(text.c_str(), TOK_ACCEPT_UNFINISHED | TOK_SHOW_COMMENTS);
     tok_t token;
     while (tok.next(&token)) {
         ;  // pass
diff --git a/src/tokenizer.cpp b/src/tokenizer.cpp
index fdcf052c7..a292de542 100644
--- a/src/tokenizer.cpp
+++ b/src/tokenizer.cpp
@@ -34,6 +34,26 @@
 /// Error string for when trying to pipe from fd 0.
 #define PIPE_ERROR _(L"Cannot use stdin (fd 0) as pipe output")
 
+wcstring error_message_for_code(tokenizer_error err) {
+    switch (err) {
+        case TOK_UNTERMINATED_QUOTE:
+            return QUOTE_ERROR;
+        case TOK_UNTERMINATED_SUBSHELL:
+            return PARAN_ERROR;
+        case TOK_UNTERMINATED_SLICE:
+            return SQUARE_BRACKET_ERROR;
+        case TOK_UNTERMINATED_ESCAPE:
+            return UNTERMINATED_ESCAPE_ERROR;
+        case TOK_INVALID_REDIRECT:
+            return REDIRECT_ERROR;
+        case TOK_INVALID_PIPE:
+            return PIPE_ERROR;
+        default:
+            assert(0 && "Unknown error type");
+            return {};
+    }
+}
+
 /// Return an error token and mark that we no longer have a next token.
 tok_t tokenizer_t::call_error(enum tokenizer_error error_type, const wchar_t *token_start,
                               const wchar_t *error_loc) {
@@ -49,30 +69,6 @@ tok_t tokenizer_t::call_error(enum tokenizer_error error_type, const wchar_t *to
     result.offset = token_start - this->start;
     result.length = this->buff - token_start;
     result.error_offset = error_loc - token_start;
-    if (!this->squash_errors) {
-        switch (error_type) {
-            case TOK_UNTERMINATED_QUOTE:
-                result.error_text = QUOTE_ERROR;
-                break;
-            case TOK_UNTERMINATED_SUBSHELL:
-                result.error_text = PARAN_ERROR;
-                break;
-            case TOK_UNTERMINATED_SLICE:
-                result.error_text = SQUARE_BRACKET_ERROR;
-                break;
-            case TOK_UNTERMINATED_ESCAPE:
-                result.error_text = UNTERMINATED_ESCAPE_ERROR;
-                break;
-            case TOK_INVALID_REDIRECT:
-                result.error_text = REDIRECT_ERROR;
-                break;
-            case TOK_INVALID_PIPE:
-                result.error_text = PIPE_ERROR;
-                break;
-            default:
-                assert(0 && "Unknown error type");
-        }
-    }
     return result;
 }
 
@@ -81,7 +77,6 @@ tokenizer_t::tokenizer_t(const wchar_t *start, tok_flags_t flags) : buff(start),
 
     this->accept_unfinished = static_cast<bool>(flags & TOK_ACCEPT_UNFINISHED);
     this->show_comments = static_cast<bool>(flags & TOK_SHOW_COMMENTS);
-    this->squash_errors = static_cast<bool>(flags & TOK_SQUASH_ERRORS);
     this->show_blank_lines = static_cast<bool>(flags & TOK_SHOW_BLANK_LINES);
 }
 
@@ -590,7 +585,7 @@ maybe_t<tok_t> tokenizer_t::tok_next() {
 }
 
 wcstring tok_first(const wcstring &str) {
-    tokenizer_t t(str.c_str(), TOK_SQUASH_ERRORS);
+    tokenizer_t t(str.c_str(), 0);
     tok_t token;
     if (t.next(&token) && token.type == TOK_STRING) {
         return t.text_of(token);
diff --git a/src/tokenizer.h b/src/tokenizer.h
index 72e5ab5a6..0c5226ead 100644
--- a/src/tokenizer.h
+++ b/src/tokenizer.h
@@ -46,13 +46,9 @@ enum class redirection_type_t {
 /// Flag telling the tokenizer not to remove comments. Useful for syntax highlighting.
 #define TOK_SHOW_COMMENTS 2
 
-/// Flag telling the tokenizer to not generate error messages, which we need to do when tokenizing
-/// off of the main thread (since wgettext is not thread safe).
-#define TOK_SQUASH_ERRORS 4
-
 /// Ordinarily, the tokenizer ignores newlines following a newline, or a semicolon. This flag tells
 /// the tokenizer to return each of them as a separate END.
-#define TOK_SHOW_BLANK_LINES 8
+#define TOK_SHOW_BLANK_LINES 4
 
 typedef unsigned int tok_flags_t;
 
@@ -70,11 +66,10 @@ struct tok_t {
 
     // If an error, this is the error code.
     enum tokenizer_error error { TOK_ERROR_NONE };
+
     // If an error, this is the offset of the error within the token. A value of 0 means it occurred
     // at 'offset'.
     size_t error_offset{size_t(-1)};
-    // If there is an error, the text of the error; otherwise empty.
-    wcstring error_text{};
 
     tok_t() = default;
 };
@@ -97,8 +92,6 @@ class tokenizer_t {
     bool show_comments{false};
     /// Whether all blank lines are returned.
     bool show_blank_lines{false};
-    /// Whether we are squashing errors.
-    bool squash_errors{false};
     /// Whether to continue the previous line after the comment.
     bool continue_line_after_comment{false};
 
@@ -145,6 +138,9 @@ int fd_redirected_by_pipe(const wcstring &str);
 /// Helper function to return oflags (as in open(2)) for a redirection type.
 int oflags_for_redirection_type(redirection_type_t type);
 
+/// Returns an error message for an error code.
+wcstring error_message_for_code(tokenizer_error err);
+
 enum move_word_style_t {
     move_word_style_punctuation,      // stop at punctuation
     move_word_style_path_components,  // stops at path components