diff --git a/backend/src/schema/resolvers/searches.js b/backend/src/schema/resolvers/searches.js
index ce626f148..7f11734a3 100644
--- a/backend/src/schema/resolvers/searches.js
+++ b/backend/src/schema/resolvers/searches.js
@@ -95,8 +95,9 @@ const createPostQuery = str => {
   }
   // start globbing ...
   escapedString.split(' ').forEach(s => {
-    if (s.length > 3)
+    if (!s.matches(/^(AND|OR|NOT)$/))
       // at least 4 letters. So AND, OR and NOT are never used unquoted
+      // but the related cypress test expects a search for just two chars.
       result += ' OR ' + s + '*'
   })
   // now we could become fuzzy using ~