diff --git a/lib/multilang.rb b/lib/multilang.rb
index 624c6e4..2eaae43 100644
--- a/lib/multilang.rb
+++ b/lib/multilang.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 module Multilang
   def block_code(code, full_lang_name)
     parts = full_lang_name.split('--')
-    rouge_lang_name = parts[0] || ""
+    rouge_lang_name = (parts) ? parts[0] : "" # just parts[0] here causes null ref exception when no language specified
     super(code, rouge_lang_name).sub("highlight #{rouge_lang_name}") do |match|
       match + " tab-" + full_lang_name
     end