diff --git a/core/config.class.php b/core/config.class.php
index 7e76b66c..8fc7b4d9 100644
--- a/core/config.class.php
+++ b/core/config.class.php
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ abstract class BaseConfig implements Config {
 		return $this->get($name, $default);
 	}
 	public function get_bool(/*string*/ $name, $default=null) {
-		return undb_bool($this->get($name, $default));
+		return bool_escape($this->get($name, $default));
 	}
 	public function get_array(/*string*/ $name, $default=array()) {
 		return explode(",", $this->get($name, ""));
diff --git a/core/imageboard.pack.php b/core/imageboard.pack.php
index cd356513..2872d06c 100644
--- a/core/imageboard.pack.php
+++ b/core/imageboard.pack.php
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ class Image {
 				$this->$name = $value; // hax
 			}
 			$this->posted_timestamp = strtotime($this->posted); // pray
-			$this->locked = undb_bool($this->locked);
+			$this->locked = bool_escape($this->locked);
 
 			assert(is_numeric($this->id));
 			assert(is_numeric($this->height));
@@ -439,7 +439,7 @@ class Image {
 		$sln = $database->engine->scoreql_to_sql('SCORE_BOOL_'.$ln);
 		$sln = str_replace("'", "", $sln);
 		$sln = str_replace('"', "", $sln);
-		if(undb_bool($sln) !== $this->locked) {
+		if(bool_escape($sln) !== $this->locked) {
 			$database->execute("UPDATE images SET locked=:yn WHERE id=:id", array("yn"=>$sln, "id"=>$this->id));
 			log_info("core-image", "Setting Image #{$this->id} lock to: $ln");
 		}
diff --git a/core/util.inc.php b/core/util.inc.php
index 4222cc97..6ad2656f 100644
--- a/core/util.inc.php
+++ b/core/util.inc.php
@@ -65,16 +65,31 @@ function sql_escape($input) {
  * @retval boolean
  */
 function bool_escape($input) {
-	$input = strtolower($input);
-	return (
-		$input === "y" ||
-		$input === "yes" ||
-		$input === "t" ||
-		$input === "true" ||
-		$input === "on" ||
-		$input === 1 ||
-		$input === true
-	);
+	/*
+	 Sometimes, I don't like PHP -- this, is one of those times...
+	  "a boolean FALSE is not considered a valid boolean value by this function."
+	 Yay for Got'chas!	
+	 http://php.net/manual/en/filter.filters.validate.php
+	*/
+	if (is_bool($value)) {
+		return $value;
+	} else {
+		$value = filter_var($input, FILTER_VALIDATE_BOOLEAN, FILTER_NULL_ON_FAILURE);
+		if (!is_null($value)) {
+			return $value;
+		} else {
+			$input = strtolower($input);
+			return (
+				$input === "y" ||
+				$input === "yes" ||
+				$input === "t" ||
+				$input === "true" ||
+				$input === "on" ||
+				$input === 1 ||
+				$input === true
+			);
+		}
+	}
 }
 
 /**
@@ -209,16 +224,6 @@ function show_ip($ip, $ban_reason) {
 	return $ip;
 }
 
-/**
- * Different databases have different ways to represent booleans; this
- * will try and standardise them
- */
-function undb_bool($val) {
-	// Could this be combined with  bool_escape() ? 
-	if($val === true  || $val == 'Y' || $val == 'y' || $val == 'T' || $val == 't' || $val === 1) return true;
-	if($val === false || $val == 'N' || $val == 'n' || $val == 'F' || $val == 'f' || $val === 0) return false;
-}
-
 /**
  * Checks if a given string contains another at the beginning.
  *
diff --git a/ext/pm/main.php b/ext/pm/main.php
index d77258aa..729ac808 100644
--- a/ext/pm/main.php
+++ b/ext/pm/main.php
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ class PM {
 			$this->sent_date = $a["sent_date"];
 			$this->subject = $a["subject"];
 			$this->message = $a["message"];
-			$this->is_read = undb_bool($a["is_read"]);
+			$this->is_read = bool_escape($a["is_read"]);
 		}
 		else {
 			$this->id      = -1;