diff --git a/wp-admin/options-general.php b/wp-admin/options-general.php
index fceac86ba..12b6d1909 100644
--- a/wp-admin/options-general.php
+++ b/wp-admin/options-general.php
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ foreach ( $offset_range as $offset ) {
 <?php _e('hours') ?>
 <span id="utc-time"><?php printf(__('<abbr title="Coordinated Universal Time">UTC</abbr> time is <code>%s</code>'), date_i18n(__('Y-m-d G:i:s'), false, 'gmt')); ?></span>
 <?php if ($current_offset) : ?>
-	<span id="local-time"><?php printf(__('UTC %1$s is <code>%2$s</code>'), $current_offset_name, date_i18n(__('Y-m-d G:i:s'), current_time('timestamp'), 'gmt')); ?></span>
+	<span id="local-time"><?php printf(__('UTC %1$s is <code>%2$s</code>'), $current_offset_name, date_i18n(__('Y-m-d G:i:s'))); ?></span>
 <?php endif; ?>
 <br/>
 <span class="setting-description"><?php _e('Unfortunately, you have to manually update this for Daylight Savings Time. Lame, we know, but will be fixed in the future.'); ?></span>
@@ -148,12 +148,12 @@ foreach ( $offset_range as $offset ) {
 			echo " checked='checked'";
 			$custom = FALSE;
 		}
-		echo ' /> ' . date_i18n( $format, current_time('timestamp'), 'gmt' ) . "</label><br />\n";
+		echo ' /> ' . date_i18n( $format ) . "</label><br />\n";
 	}
 
 	echo '	<label><input type="radio" name="date_format" id="date_format_custom_radio" value="\c\u\s\t\o\m"';
 	checked( $custom, TRUE );
-	echo '/> ' . __('Custom:') . ' </label><input type="text" name="date_format_custom" value="' . attribute_escape( get_option('date_format') ) . '" class="small-text" /> ' . date_i18n( get_option('date_format'), current_time('timestamp'), 'gmt' ) . "\n";
+	echo '/> ' . __('Custom:') . ' </label><input type="text" name="date_format_custom" value="' . attribute_escape( get_option('date_format') ) . '" class="small-text" /> ' . date_i18n( get_option('date_format') ) . "\n";
 
 	echo "\t<p>" . __('<a href="http://codex.wordpress.org/Formatting_Date_and_Time">Documentation on date formatting</a>. Click "Save Changes" to update sample output.') . "</p>\n";
 ?>
@@ -180,12 +180,12 @@ foreach ( $offset_range as $offset ) {
 			echo " checked='checked'";
 			$custom = FALSE;
 		}
-		echo ' /> ' . date_i18n( $format, current_time('timestamp'), 'gmt' ) . "</label><br />\n";
+		echo ' /> ' . date_i18n( $format ) . "</label><br />\n";
 	}
 
 	echo '	<label><input type="radio" name="time_format" id="time_format_custom_radio" value="\c\u\s\t\o\m"';
 	checked( $custom, TRUE );
-	echo '/> ' . __('Custom:') . ' </label><input type="text" name="time_format_custom" value="' . attribute_escape( get_option('time_format') ) . '" class="small-text" /> ' . date_i18n( get_option('time_format'), current_time('timestamp'), 'gmt' ) . "\n";
+	echo '/> ' . __('Custom:') . ' </label><input type="text" name="time_format_custom" value="' . attribute_escape( get_option('time_format') ) . '" class="small-text" /> ' . date_i18n( get_option('time_format') ) . "\n";
 ?>
 	</fieldset>
 </td>
diff --git a/wp-includes/functions.php b/wp-includes/functions.php
index da927ffcf..73ffdba6f 100644
--- a/wp-includes/functions.php
+++ b/wp-includes/functions.php
@@ -116,16 +116,25 @@ function date_i18n( $dateformatstring, $unixtimestamp = false, $gmt = false ) {
 	global $wp_locale;
 	$i = $unixtimestamp;
 	// Sanity check for PHP 5.1.0-
-	if ( false === $i || intval($i) < 0 )
-		$i = time();
+	if ( false === $i || intval($i) < 0 ) {
+		if ( ! $gmt )
+			$i = current_time( 'timestamp' );
+		else
+			$i = time();
+		// we should not let date() interfere with our
+		// specially computed timestamp
+		$gmt = true;
+	}
+
+	$datefunc = $gmt? 'gmdate' : 'date';
 
 	if ( ( !empty( $wp_locale->month ) ) && ( !empty( $wp_locale->weekday ) ) ) {
-		$datemonth = $wp_locale->get_month( date( 'm', $i ) );
+		$datemonth = $wp_locale->get_month( $datefunc( 'm', $i ) );
 		$datemonth_abbrev = $wp_locale->get_month_abbrev( $datemonth );
-		$dateweekday = $wp_locale->get_weekday( date( 'w', $i ) );
+		$dateweekday = $wp_locale->get_weekday( $datefunc( 'w', $i ) );
 		$dateweekday_abbrev = $wp_locale->get_weekday_abbrev( $dateweekday );
-		$datemeridiem = $wp_locale->get_meridiem( date( 'a', $i ) );
-		$datemeridiem_capital = $wp_locale->get_meridiem( date( 'A', $i ) );
+		$datemeridiem = $wp_locale->get_meridiem( $datefunc( 'a', $i ) );
+		$datemeridiem_capital = $wp_locale->get_meridiem( $datefunc( 'A', $i ) );
 		$dateformatstring = ' '.$dateformatstring;
 		$dateformatstring = preg_replace( "/([^\\\])D/", "\\1" . backslashit( $dateweekday_abbrev ), $dateformatstring );
 		$dateformatstring = preg_replace( "/([^\\\])F/", "\\1" . backslashit( $datemonth ), $dateformatstring );
@@ -136,7 +145,7 @@ function date_i18n( $dateformatstring, $unixtimestamp = false, $gmt = false ) {
 
 		$dateformatstring = substr( $dateformatstring, 1, strlen( $dateformatstring ) -1 );
 	}
-	$j = $gmt? @gmdate( $dateformatstring, $i ) : @date( $dateformatstring, $i );
+	$j = @$datefunc( $dateformatstring, $i );
 	return $j;
 }