diff --git a/src/static/js/linestylefilter.js b/src/static/js/linestylefilter.js
index c6434b6c2..e6fbc2096 100644
--- a/src/static/js/linestylefilter.js
+++ b/src/static/js/linestylefilter.js
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ linestylefilter.getRegexpFilter = function(regExp, tag)
 
 
 linestylefilter.REGEX_WORDCHAR = /[\u0030-\u0039\u0041-\u005A\u0061-\u007A\u00C0-\u00D6\u00D8-\u00F6\u00F8-\u00FF\u0100-\u1FFF\u3040-\u9FFF\uF900-\uFDFF\uFE70-\uFEFE\uFF10-\uFF19\uFF21-\uFF3A\uFF41-\uFF5A\uFF66-\uFFDC]/;
-linestylefilter.REGEX_URLCHAR = new RegExp('(' + /[-:@a-zA-Z0-9_.,~%+\/\\?=&#;()$]/.source + '|' + linestylefilter.REGEX_WORDCHAR.source + ')');
+linestylefilter.REGEX_URLCHAR = new RegExp('(' + /[-:@a-zA-Z0-9_.,~%+\/\\?=&#!;()$]/.source + '|' + linestylefilter.REGEX_WORDCHAR.source + ')');
 linestylefilter.REGEX_URL = new RegExp(/(?:(?:https?|s?ftp|ftps|file|smb|afp|nfs|(x-)?man|gopher|txmt):\/\/|mailto:|www\.)/.source + linestylefilter.REGEX_URLCHAR.source + '*(?![:.,;])' + linestylefilter.REGEX_URLCHAR.source, 'g');
 linestylefilter.getURLFilter = linestylefilter.getRegexpFilter(
 linestylefilter.REGEX_URL, 'url');
diff --git a/tests/frontend/specs/keystroke_urls_become_clickable.js b/tests/frontend/specs/keystroke_urls_become_clickable.js
index 2a46360e8..8c72d748e 100644
--- a/tests/frontend/specs/keystroke_urls_become_clickable.js
+++ b/tests/frontend/specs/keystroke_urls_become_clickable.js
@@ -21,4 +21,27 @@ describe("urls", function(){
       return inner$("div").first().find("a").length === 1;
     }, 2000).done(done);
   });
+
+  it("when you enter a url containing a !, it becomes clickable and contains the whole URL", function(done) {
+    var inner$ = helper.padInner$;
+    var chrome$ = helper.padChrome$;
+
+    //get the first text element out of the inner iframe
+    var firstTextElement = inner$("div").first();
+    var url = "http://etherpad.org/!foo";
+
+    // simulate key presses to delete content
+    firstTextElement.sendkeys('{selectall}'); // select all
+    firstTextElement.sendkeys('{del}'); // clear the first line
+    firstTextElement.sendkeys(url); // insert a URL
+
+    helper.waitFor(function(){
+      if(inner$("div").first().find("a").length === 1){ // if it contains an A link
+        if(inner$("div").first().find("a")[0].href === url){
+          return true;
+        }
+      };
+    }, 2000).done(done);
+  });
+
 });
diff --git a/tests/frontend/specs/language.js b/tests/frontend/specs/language.js
index 83bb84583..f93bc33d3 100644
--- a/tests/frontend/specs/language.js
+++ b/tests/frontend/specs/language.js
@@ -21,12 +21,8 @@ describe("Language select and change", function(){
     $languageoption.attr('selected','selected');
     $language.change();
 
-    var localizedEventFired = false;
-    $(chrome$.window).bind('localized', function() {
-      localizedEventFired = true;
-    })
-
-    helper.waitFor(function() { return localizedEventFired;})
+    var current = $language.val();
+    helper.waitFor(function() { return $language.val() != current})  // GOT IT?
     .done(function(){
       //get the value of the bold button
       var $boldButton = chrome$(".buttonicon-bold").parent();
@@ -56,12 +52,8 @@ describe("Language select and change", function(){
     $languageoption.attr('selected','selected');
     $language.change();
 
-    var localizedEventFired = false;
-    $(chrome$.window).bind('localized', function() {
-      localizedEventFired = true;
-    })
-
-    helper.waitFor(function() { return localizedEventFired;})
+    var current = $language.val();
+    helper.waitFor(function() { return $language.val() != current})
     .done(function(){
 
       //get the value of the bold button
@@ -78,4 +70,3 @@ describe("Language select and change", function(){
   });
 
 });
-