diff --git a/sh/streamcrap b/sh/streamcrap
index 76ab418..9e627ce 100644
--- a/sh/streamcrap
+++ b/sh/streamcrap
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ mpv_watch() { ### @-
     pushd ~/play >/dev/null
     local url="$1"; shift
 
-    local seen=0 A=()
+    local seen=0 A=() a= # need to make loop vars local thanks to numeric types in zsh
 #   for a; do [ "$a" = "${a#--ytdl-format}" ] && A+=("$a") || seen=1; done
     for a; do A+=("$a"); done # bypass ytdl-format checks
     [ $seen = 0 ] || printf '%s\n' "NOTE: the --ytdl-format flag is temporarily ignored due to throttling issues." >&2