diff --git a/data/js_defer_excludes.txt b/data/js_defer_excludes.txt
index 17552cf20..924de6a2d 100644
--- a/data/js_defer_excludes.txt
+++ b/data/js_defer_excludes.txt
@@ -11,4 +11,8 @@ _stq
 
 # Cloudflare turnstile - Tobolo
 turnstile
-challenges.cloudflare.com
\ No newline at end of file
+challenges.cloudflare.com
+
+# WordPress core hooks/i18n: inline `wp-i18n-js-after` and `*-js-translations` blocks call wp.i18n.setLocaleData() synchronously on every localized site - Tobolo
+wp-includes/js/dist/hooks
+wp-includes/js/dist/i18n
diff --git a/data/js_excludes.txt b/data/js_excludes.txt
index 6f53ab24b..edc97661e 100644
--- a/data/js_excludes.txt
+++ b/data/js_excludes.txt
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ cse.google.com/cse.js
 /syntaxhighlighter/
 spotlight-social-photo-feeds ## https://docs.spotlightwp.com/article/757-autoptimize-compatibility @Tobolo
 userway.org
+wp-includes/js/dist/hooks ## WordPress core, keep out of combined files so the defer exclude in js_defer_excludes.txt can match - Tobolo
+wp-includes/js/dist/i18n ## see js_defer_excludes.txt
 
 # Inline JS excludes
 document.write