diff --git a/loopy/preprocess.py b/loopy/preprocess.py
index 2ed004e078964dc71cb967512f6a21dbde2fcc6c..7b05efd0b0639d6fb098bbc92a99ea29e323a7b6 100644
--- a/loopy/preprocess.py
+++ b/loopy/preprocess.py
@@ -2270,7 +2270,10 @@ class ArgDescriptionInferer(CombineMapper):
                     assignee_id_to_descr[-i-1] = ValueArgDescriptor()
 
         # gathering all the descriptors
-        combined_arg_id_to_descr = {**arg_id_to_descr, **assignee_id_to_descr}
+        # TODO: I dont like in place updates. Change this to somthing else.
+        # Perhaps make a function?
+        combined_arg_id_to_descr = arg_id_to_descr.copy()
+        combined_arg_id_to_descr.update(assignee_id_to_descr)
 
         # specializing the function according to the parameter description
         new_scoped_function = (
diff --git a/loopy/type_inference.py b/loopy/type_inference.py
index 861e59852e797d74fde11d902f1b2f57b795c1a9..2d35d7cfa3412da58624270bd3df9ebf67daa9e9 100644
--- a/loopy/type_inference.py
+++ b/loopy/type_inference.py
@@ -630,7 +630,7 @@ def infer_unknown_types(kernel, expect_completion=False):
                         new_arg_dict[name] = item.copy(dtype=new_dtype)
                     else:
                         raise LoopyError("unexpected item type in type inference")
-                # TODO: I dont like in place updates. Change this to something
+                # TODO: I dont like in-place updates. Change this to something
                 # else. Perhaps add a function for doing this, which does it
                 # using a bunch of copies?
                 specialized_functions.update(new_specialized_functions)