The possibility is considered, and shown to be plausible, that the strong C IV and Si IV absorption lines in low-resolution ultraviolet spectra of gas-rich dwarf galaxies are primarily interstellar, not stellar as has been supposed. The argument is based on analogies with H II regions in the Local Group, on low-resolution equivalent width measurements of gas-rich dwarf galaxies from the literature and on high-resolution UV spectra of NGC 1705.