diff --git a/assets/javascripts/discourse/lib/rich-editor-extension.js b/assets/javascripts/discourse/lib/rich-editor-extension.js
index d453ec1..8e2e936 100644
--- a/assets/javascripts/discourse/lib/rich-editor-extension.js
+++ b/assets/javascripts/discourse/lib/rich-editor-extension.js
@@ -188,17 +188,28 @@ function wrapInTag(state, node, tag) {
   state.closeBlock(node);
 }
 
+// the cook writes a classless span holding a single declaration; anything
+// looser is styling the browser inlined at copy time, not authored bbcode
+function styledSpan(property, getAttrs) {
+  return {
+    tag: "span[style]:not([class])",
+    getAttrs: (dom) => {
+      const { style } = dom;
+      return style.length === 1 && style.item(0) === property
+        ? getAttrs(style.getPropertyValue(property))
+        : false;
+    },
+  };
+}
+
 function colorMark(property) {
   return {
     attrs: { color: {} },
     parseDOM: [
-      {
-        style: property,
-        getAttrs: (value) => {
-          const color = normalizeColor(value);
-          return color ? { color } : false;
-        },
-      },
+      styledSpan(property, (value) => {
+        const color = normalizeColor(value);
+        return color ? { color } : false;
+      }),
     ],
     toDOM: (mark) => ["span", { style: `${property}:${mark.attrs.color}` }, 0],
   };
@@ -224,24 +235,19 @@ const extension = {
     bbcode_size: {
       attrs: { size: {} },
       parseDOM: [
-        {
-          style: "font-size",
-          getAttrs: (value) =>
-            SIZE_VALUE.test(value) ? { size: parseInt(value, 10) } : false,
-        },
+        styledSpan("font-size", (value) =>
+          SIZE_VALUE.test(value) ? { size: parseInt(value, 10) } : false
+        ),
       ],
       toDOM: (mark) => ["span", { style: `font-size:${mark.attrs.size}%` }, 0],
     },
     bbcode_font: {
       attrs: { font: {} },
       parseDOM: [
-        {
-          style: "font-family",
-          getAttrs: (value) => {
-            const font = unquoteFont(value);
-            return font ? { font } : false;
-          },
-        },
+        styledSpan("font-family", (value) => {
+          const font = unquoteFont(value);
+          return font ? { font } : false;
+        }),
       ],
       toDOM: (mark) => [
         "span",
@@ -256,7 +262,7 @@ const extension = {
       toDOM: () => ["span", { class: "highlight" }, 0],
     },
     bbcode_small: {
-      parseDOM: [{ style: "font-size=x-small" }],
+      parseDOM: [styledSpan("font-size", (value) => value === "x-small" && {})],
       toDOM: () => ["span", { style: "font-size:x-small" }, 0],
     },
     bbcode_aname: {
diff --git a/test/javascripts/integration/rich-editor-extension-test.js b/test/javascripts/integration/rich-editor-extension-test.js
index ab5c65e..e165a1e 100644
--- a/test/javascripts/integration/rich-editor-extension-test.js
+++ b/test/javascripts/integration/rich-editor-extension-test.js
@@ -279,6 +279,14 @@ module(
         '<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">stacked</span></p>',
         "stacked",
       ],
+      "pasted multi-declaration span html is not claimed": [
+        '<p><span style="color: red; background-color: yellow;">calm</span></p>',
+        "calm",
+      ],
+      "pasted classed span html is not claimed": [
+        '<p><span class="themed" style="color: red;">calm</span></p>',
+        "calm",
+      ],
       "pasted generic font html is not claimed": [
         '<p><span style="font-family: monospace;">mono</span></p>',
         "mono",
diff --git a/test/javascripts/unit/lib/to-markdown-test.js b/test/javascripts/unit/lib/to-markdown-test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..123b0c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/javascripts/unit/lib/to-markdown-test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+import { setupTest } from "ember-qunit";
+import { module, test } from "qunit";
+import {
+  registerRichEditorExtension,
+  resetRichEditorExtensions,
+} from "discourse/lib/composer/rich-editor-extensions";
+import toMarkdown from "discourse/lib/to-markdown";
+import richEditorExtension from "discourse/plugins/discourse-bbcode/discourse/lib/rich-editor-extension";
+
+module("discourse-bbcode | Unit | to-markdown", function (hooks) {
+  setupTest(hooks);
+
+  hooks.beforeEach(async function () {
+    await resetRichEditorExtensions();
+    registerRichEditorExtension(richEditorExtension);
+  });
+
+  // copying rendered content inlines theme colors onto the copied elements
+  test("ignores styles the browser inlined on copied content", async function (assert) {
+    assert.strictEqual(
+      await toMarkdown(
+        `<a class="mention" href="/u/someone" style="color: #112233; background-color: #eef2ee;">@someone</a> <code style="color: #112233; background-color: #f4f4f4;">a command</code>`
+      ),
+      "@someone `a command`"
+    );
+  });
+
+  test("keeps a cooked bbcode span", async function (assert) {
+    assert.strictEqual(
+      await toMarkdown(`<span style="color:red">red</span> text`),
+      "[color=red]red[/color] text"
+    );
+  });
+});