--- lib/address.cc
+++ lib/address.cc
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@
   case LSQBRACKET: case RSQBRACKET:
   case AT: case COMMA:
   case SEMICOLON: case COLON:
-  case ESCAPE: case QUOTE: case PERIOD:
+  case ESCAPE: case QUOTE:
     return true;
   default:
     return false;
@@ -446,29 +446,30 @@
     RETURN(node->next, node->str, comment, node->str);
   else if(node->type == QUOTED_STRING) {
     mystring addr = unquote(node->str);
-    RETURN(node->next, quote(addr), comment, addr);
+    RETURN(node->next, node->str, comment, node->str);
   }
   FAIL("did not match ATOM or QUOTED-STRING");
 }
 
 RULE(local_part)
 {
-  ENTER("word *(PERIOD word)");
-  MATCHRULE(r, word);
+  ENTER("[word] *(PERIOD [word])");
+  result  r  = match_word (node); if(! r ) r = node;
   for(;;) {
     node = r.next = skipcomment(r.next, r.comment);
     if(node->type != PERIOD)
       break;
     node = node->next;
     result r1 = match_word(node);
-    if(!r1)
-      break;
-    r.next = r1.next;
+    r.next = !r1 ? node : r1.next;
     r.str += PERIOD;
-    r.str += r1.str;
-    r.comment += r1.comment;
+    if(!!r1)
+      r.str += r1.str;
+    if(!!r1)
+      r.comment += r1.comment;
     r.addr += PERIOD;
-    r.addr += r1.addr;
+    if(!!r1)
+      r.addr += r1.addr;
   }
   RETURNR(r);
 }