diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index 2ece2000..933180a2 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -3,4 +3,8 @@ index.html linguist-generated=true
 html/** linguist-generated=true
 archive/** linguist-generated=true
 prototypes/** linguist-generated=true
-tools/iso/kernel.soso/** linguist-generated=true
+tools/iso/kernel.soso/** linguist-vendored
+# include the bulk of the repo with an approximately-correct language
+# just so it seems less like a purely C++ language
+*.subx linguist-language=Assembly
+*.mu linguist-language=Forth