diff --git a/src/lib/meta/util.hpp b/src/lib/meta/util.hpp
index 8bd135120..26e3997b1 100644
--- a/src/lib/meta/util.hpp
+++ b/src/lib/meta/util.hpp
@@ -225,6 +225,12 @@ namespace meta {
    *    and further simplify the type string, leaving out some common
    *    (hard wired) namespace prefixes, and stripping typical adornments
    *    like `const`, `*` and `&`
+   * @remarks almost all calls will enter through the `const&` variant of this
+   *    function, since C++ considers this best match in template substitution.
+   *    Thus, we deliberately force calls with pointer to enter here, since we
+   *    do want the pointer itself (and not a pointer to the pointer). We then
+   *    pass the "object" as so called "glvalue" to the `typeid()` function,
+   *    so to get the evaluation of RTTI, when applicable.
    * @warning this function does string transformations behind the scenes,
    *    and thus should not be used in performance critical context. Moreover,
    *    the returned type string is not necessarily exact and re-parsable.
@@ -241,7 +247,8 @@ namespace meta {
     { return FAILURE_INDICATOR; }
   
   template<typename TY>
-  inline std::string
+  inline                   disable_if<std::is_pointer<TY>,
+  std::string              >
   typeStr (TY const& ref)  noexcept
   {
     return typeStr (&ref);
@@ -270,7 +277,8 @@ namespace meta {
   }
   
   template<typename TY>
-  inline std::string
+  inline                   disable_if<std::is_pointer<TY>,
+  std::string              >
   typeSymbol (TY const& ref)
   {
     return typeSymbol (&ref);
@@ -331,7 +339,7 @@ namespace util {
   
   template<typename X>
   inline std::string
-  showAddr (X const& elm)  noexcept
+  showAddr (X& elm)  noexcept
   {
     return showAddr(&elm);
   }
diff --git a/src/lib/test/test-helper.hpp b/src/lib/test/test-helper.hpp
index 483076019..953f96dc6 100644
--- a/src/lib/test/test-helper.hpp
+++ b/src/lib/test/test-helper.hpp
@@ -80,7 +80,8 @@ namespace test{
   }
   
   template<typename T>
-  inline string
+  inline                                      meta::disable_if<std::is_pointer<T>,
+  string                                      >                                 // note:: force invocations with pointer to the first overload
   showSizeof (T const& obj, const char* name=0)
   {
     return showSizeof (&obj, name);
@@ -100,7 +101,7 @@ namespace test{
   string
   showRefKind()
   {
-    return std::is_lvalue_reference<R>::value? "REF"
+    return std::is_lvalue_reference<R>::value?       "REF"
                : std::is_rvalue_reference<R>::value? "MOV"
                                                    : "VAL";
   }