diff --git a/lib/MethodWrappers.js b/lib/MethodWrappers.js
index 2f88cca..e000a60 100644
--- a/lib/MethodWrappers.js
+++ b/lib/MethodWrappers.js
@@ -59,7 +59,11 @@ exports.standard = {
             return retval;
         };
 
-        retf.super = super_method;
+        // `super` is reserved and, in ES3, this causes problems with the
+        // dot-notation; while `foo.super` will work fine in modern (ES5)
+        // browsers, we need to maintain our ES3 compatibility
+        retf['super'] = super_method;
+
         return retf;
     },
 
diff --git a/lib/Trait.js b/lib/Trait.js
index 0cca02f..b622586 100644
--- a/lib/Trait.js
+++ b/lib/Trait.js
@@ -176,6 +176,9 @@ Trait.extend = function( dfn )
         return ''+name;
     };
 
+    // we're not a param trait, but we want consistent data
+    Trait.___$$mixinargs = [];
+
     // invoked to trigger mixin
     Trait.__mixin = function( dfn, tc, base )
     {
diff --git a/lib/util/Global.js b/lib/util/Global.js
index 597d47e..914041c 100644
--- a/lib/util/Global.js
+++ b/lib/util/Global.js
@@ -45,9 +45,11 @@ function Global()
         return new Global();
     }
 
-    // allows us to extend the global object without actually polluting the
-    // global scope
-    this._global = new _G();
+    // do not pollute the global scope (previously, _the_global was used as
+    // the prototype for a new object to take advantage of native overrides,
+    // but unfortunately IE<=8 did not support this and always returned
+    // undefined values from the prototype).
+    this._alt = {};
 }
 
 
@@ -56,8 +58,9 @@ function Global()
  * versions, for any root variable name, and works with ES5 strict mode.
  *
  * As an example, Node.js exposes the variable `root` to represent global
- * scope, but browsers expose `window`. Further, ES5 strict mode will provde
- * an error when checking whether `typeof SomeGlobalVar === 'undefined'`.
+ * scope, but browsers expose `window`. Further, ES5 strict mode will
+ * provide an error when checking whether `typeof SomeGlobalVar ===
+ * 'undefined'`.
  *
  * @return  {Object}  global object
  */
@@ -86,12 +89,14 @@ Global.prototype = {
      */
     provideAlt: function( name, f )
     {
-        if ( typeof this._global[ name ] !== 'undefined' )
+        if ( ( _the_global[ name ] !== undefined )
+            || ( this._alt[ name ] !== undefined )
+        )
         {
             return;
         }
 
-        this._global[ name ] = f();
+        this._alt[ name ] = f();
         return this;
     },
 
@@ -112,7 +117,9 @@ Global.prototype = {
      */
     get: function( name )
     {
-        return this._global[ name ];
+        return ( this._alt[ name ] !== undefined )
+            ? this._alt[ name ]
+            : _the_global[ name ];
     },
 };
 
diff --git a/test/MethodWrappersTest.js b/test/MethodWrappersTest.js
index b3d740f..6f73e7b 100644
--- a/test/MethodWrappersTest.js
+++ b/test/MethodWrappersTest.js
@@ -229,8 +229,9 @@ require( 'common' ).testCase(
         ;
 
         // we should be able to invoke the super method by override.super,
-        // which is added atop of the wrapper
-        this.assertStrictEqual( override.super(), expected );
+        // which is added atop of the wrapper (note that we quote it to avoid
+        // problems with ES3 engines)
+        this.assertStrictEqual( override['super'](), expected );
     },