diff --git a/crates/nu-cli/src/commands/classified/external.rs b/crates/nu-cli/src/commands/classified/external.rs
index 38b56c34d4..554a394ed6 100644
--- a/crates/nu-cli/src/commands/classified/external.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-cli/src/commands/classified/external.rs
@@ -118,29 +118,18 @@ async fn run_with_stdin(
         let value =
             evaluate_baseline_expr(arg, &context.registry, &scope.it, &scope.vars, &scope.env)
                 .await?;
+
         // Skip any arguments that don't really exist, treating them as optional
         // FIXME: we may want to preserve the gap in the future, though it's hard to say
         // what value we would put in its place.
         if value.value.is_none() {
             continue;
         }
+
         // Do the cleanup that we need to do on any argument going out:
         let trimmed_value_string = value.as_string()?.trim_end_matches('\n').to_string();
 
-        let value_string;
-        #[cfg(not(windows))]
-        {
-            value_string = trimmed_value_string
-                .replace('$', "\\$")
-                .replace('"', "\\\"")
-                .to_string()
-        }
-        #[cfg(windows)]
-        {
-            value_string = trimmed_value_string
-        }
-
-        command_args.push(value_string);
+        command_args.push(trimmed_value_string);
     }
 
     let process_args = command_args
diff --git a/crates/nu-parser/src/parse.rs b/crates/nu-parser/src/parse.rs
index 39024f983e..ca5b22fae9 100644
--- a/crates/nu-parser/src/parse.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-parser/src/parse.rs
@@ -512,6 +512,26 @@ fn parse_interpolated_string(
     (call, error)
 }
 
+/// Parses the given argument using the shape as a guide for how to correctly parse the argument
+fn parse_external_arg(
+    registry: &dyn SignatureRegistry,
+    lite_arg: &Spanned<String>,
+) -> (SpannedExpression, Option<ParseError>) {
+    if lite_arg.item.starts_with('$') {
+        return parse_full_column_path(&lite_arg, registry);
+    }
+
+    if lite_arg.item.starts_with('`') && lite_arg.item.len() > 1 && lite_arg.item.ends_with('`') {
+        // This is an interpolated string
+        parse_interpolated_string(registry, &lite_arg)
+    } else {
+        (
+            SpannedExpression::new(Expression::string(lite_arg.item.clone()), lite_arg.span),
+            None,
+        )
+    }
+}
+
 /// Parses the given argument using the shape as a guide for how to correctly parse the argument
 fn parse_arg(
     expected_type: SyntaxShape,
@@ -1237,7 +1257,7 @@ fn classify_pipeline(
             args.push(name);
 
             for lite_arg in &lite_cmd.args {
-                let (expr, err) = parse_arg(SyntaxShape::String, registry, lite_arg);
+                let (expr, err) = parse_external_arg(registry, lite_arg);
                 if error.is_none() {
                     error = err;
                 }
@@ -1313,7 +1333,7 @@ fn classify_pipeline(
             args.push(name);
 
             for lite_arg in &lite_cmd.args {
-                let (expr, err) = parse_arg(SyntaxShape::String, registry, lite_arg);
+                let (expr, err) = parse_external_arg(registry, lite_arg);
                 if error.is_none() {
                     error = err;
                 }
diff --git a/tests/shell/pipeline/commands/external.rs b/tests/shell/pipeline/commands/external.rs
index 14e64f0bbf..4d1a17f4c7 100644
--- a/tests/shell/pipeline/commands/external.rs
+++ b/tests/shell/pipeline/commands/external.rs
@@ -192,6 +192,15 @@ mod external_words {
 
         assert_eq!(actual.out, "joturner@foo.bar.baz");
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn no_escaping_for_single_quoted_strings() {
+        let actual = nu!(cwd: ".", r#"
+        nu --testbin cococo 'test "things"'
+        "#);
+
+        assert_eq!(actual.out, "test \"things\"");
+    }
 }
 
 mod nu_commands {