diff --git a/2000/bmeyer/try.sh b/2000/bmeyer/try.sh
index aaa4f6869..ee56ad4fe 100755
--- a/2000/bmeyer/try.sh
+++ b/2000/bmeyer/try.sh
@@ -19,22 +19,13 @@ clear
 # be determined: we just use a default value.
 #
 # try getting the columns the simple way first: tput cols
-COLUMNS="$(tputs cols)"
-# In this case we might be able to get away with resolving this ShellCheck
-# warning:
-#
-#   SC2181 (style): Check exit code directly with e.g. 'if ! mycmd;', not indirectly with $?.
-#
-# but we want to assign the value to COLUMNS and at the same time make sure tput
-# worked. Thus we disable this warning.
-#
-# shellcheck disable=SC2181
-if [[ "$?" -ne 0 ]]; then
-    # if tput failed for any reason try stty(1) with awk(1):
+if ! COLUMNS="$(tput cols)"; then
+    # if tput failed for any reason try stty(1) with awk(1).
+    #
     # Disable this warning of shellcheck as it's wrong: awk needs single quotes.
     #
-    #	SC2016 (info): Expressions don't expand in single quotes, use double quotes for that.
-    #
+    # SC2016 (info): Expressions don't expand in single quotes, use double quotes for that.
+    # https://www.shellcheck.net/wiki/SC2016
     # shellcheck disable=SC2016
     COLUMNS="$(stty size|awk '{print $NF}')"