diff --git a/ui/src/components/markdown-textarea.tsx b/ui/src/components/markdown-textarea.tsx
index 04838b2c8..cd2dda110 100644
--- a/ui/src/components/markdown-textarea.tsx
+++ b/ui/src/components/markdown-textarea.tsx
@@ -471,12 +471,12 @@ export class MarkdownTextArea extends Component<
 
   handleInsertSubscript(i: MarkdownTextArea, event: any) {
     event.preventDefault();
-    i.simpleInsert('~');
+    i.simpleSurround('~');
   }
 
   handleInsertSuperscript(i: MarkdownTextArea, event: any) {
     event.preventDefault();
-    i.simpleInsert('^');
+    i.simpleSurround('^');
   }
 
   simpleInsert(chars: string) {