diff --git a/src/menu/menu.c b/src/menu/menu.c
index ded574ed..2505317d 100644
--- a/src/menu/menu.c
+++ b/src/menu/menu.c
@@ -4,14 +4,12 @@
 #include <assert.h>
 #include <ctype.h>
 #include <libxml/parser.h>
-#include <locale.h>
 #include <signal.h>
+#include <stdbool.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <strings.h>
-#include <uchar.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
-#include <wctype.h>
 #include <wlr/types/wlr_scene.h>
 #include <wlr/types/wlr_xdg_shell.h>
 #include <wlr/util/log.h>
@@ -133,25 +131,28 @@ validate(void)
 	}
 }
 
-/* Extract a single Unicode codepoint and convert it to lowercase */
+/* Read a single Unicode codepoint and convert it to lowercase */
 static uint32_t
-get_unicode_char_lowercase(const char *first_byte, size_t *out_bytes)
+read_unicode_char_lowercase(const char *first_byte, size_t *bytes_read)
 {
-	if (!first_byte || first_byte[0] == '\0' || !out_bytes) {
-		if (out_bytes) {
-			*out_bytes = 0;
-		}
+	assert(bytes_read);
+
+	if (string_null_or_empty(first_byte)) {
+		*bytes_read = 0;
 		return 0;
 	}
 
 	gunichar codepoint = g_utf8_get_char_validated(first_byte, -1);
 
-	if (codepoint == (gunichar)-1 || codepoint == (gunichar)-2) {
-		*out_bytes = 1;
+	bool partial_read = (codepoint == (gunichar)-2);
+	bool failed_read = (codepoint == (gunichar)-1);
+	if (partial_read || failed_read) {
+		/* Read only the first byte */
+		*bytes_read = 1;
 		return (uint32_t)(unsigned char)first_byte[0];
 	}
 
-	*out_bytes = (size_t)(g_utf8_next_char(first_byte) - first_byte);
+	*bytes_read = (size_t)(g_utf8_next_char(first_byte) - first_byte);
 
 	return (uint32_t)g_unichar_tolower(codepoint);
 }
@@ -176,22 +177,22 @@ item_parse_accelerator(struct menuitem *item, const char *text)
 		}
 	}
 
-	size_t bytes = 0;
+	size_t bytes_read = 0;
 	if (!accel_ptr) {
 		/* Default to the first char */
 		item->text = xstrdup(text);
-		item->accelerator = get_unicode_char_lowercase(text, &bytes);
+		item->accelerator = read_unicode_char_lowercase(text, &bytes_read);
 	} else {
 		/* Set the accelerator and remove the preceding underscore */
 		item->use_markup = true;
-		item->accelerator = get_unicode_char_lowercase(accel_ptr, &bytes);
+		item->accelerator = read_unicode_char_lowercase(accel_ptr, &bytes_read);
 		item->text = strdup_printf("%.*s<u>%.*s</u>%s",
 			/* Prefix length + prefix */
 			(int)(accel_ptr - 1 - text), text,
 			/* Accelerator (utf-8 byte) length + accelerator */
-			(int)bytes, accel_ptr,
+			(int)bytes_read, accel_ptr,
 			/* Remainder */
-			accel_ptr + bytes);
+			accel_ptr + bytes_read);
 	}
 }