diff --git a/js/core/utils.js b/js/core/utils.js
index 989f7de917..a9523bf7b8 100644
--- a/js/core/utils.js
+++ b/js/core/utils.js
@@ -45,17 +45,18 @@ define(
             var titles = [];
             var theAttr = "";
             var titleString = ""; 
-            if (( !args || (args && args.isDefinition != true) ) && this.attr("data-lt")) {
-                // only look for a data-lt when we are NOT being called to create a
-                // new definition
+            if (this.attr("data-lt")) {
+                // prefer @data-lt for the list of title aliases
                 titleString = this.attr("data-lt");
                 theAttr = "data-lt";
             }
             else if (this.attr("lt")) {
+                // allow @lt to be consistent with bikeshed
                 titleString = this.attr("lt");
                 theAttr = "lt";
             }
             else if (this.attr("title")) {
+                // allow @title for backward compatibility
                 titleString = this.attr("title");
                 theAttr = "title";
                 respecEvents.pub("warn", "Using deprecated attribute @title for '" + this.text() + "': see http://w3.org/respec/guide.html#definitions-and-linking");
diff --git a/tests/spec/core/utils-spec.js b/tests/spec/core/utils-spec.js
index 2ebf826cac..671cd4b177 100644
--- a/tests/spec/core/utils-spec.js
+++ b/tests/spec/core/utils-spec.js
@@ -98,12 +98,12 @@ describe("Core - Utils", function () {
             expect(utils.isoDate("2013-06-25")).toMatch(/2013-06-2[45]T/) ;
             var d = new Date();
             d.setFullYear(2013);
-            d.setMonth(5);
             d.setDate(25);
+            d.setMonth(8);
             d.setHours(0);
             d.setMinutes(0);
             d.setSeconds(0);
-            expect(utils.isoDate(d)).toMatch(/2013-06-2[45]T/);
+            expect(utils.isoDate(d)).toMatch(/2013-09-2[45]T/);
         });
     });