diff --git a/wp-includes/template-functions-bookmarks.php b/wp-includes/template-functions-bookmarks.php
index 9901ff9cf..71d1bf63c 100644
--- a/wp-includes/template-functions-bookmarks.php
+++ b/wp-includes/template-functions-bookmarks.php
@@ -250,7 +250,10 @@ function get_links_list($order = 'name', $hide_if_empty = 'obsolete') {
 function get_bookmarks($args = '') {
 	global $wpdb;
 
-	parse_str($args, $r);
+	if ( is_array($args) )
+		$r = &$args;
+	else
+		parse_str($args, $r);
 
 	if ( !isset($r['orderby']) )
 		$r['orderby'] = 'name';
diff --git a/wp-includes/template-functions-category.php b/wp-includes/template-functions-category.php
index 113c296ea..21840db9a 100644
--- a/wp-includes/template-functions-category.php
+++ b/wp-includes/template-functions-category.php
@@ -150,7 +150,11 @@ function category_description($category = 0) {
 }
 
 function wp_dropdown_categories($args = '') {
-	parse_str($args, $r);
+	if ( is_array($args) )
+		$r = &$args;
+	else
+		parse_str($args, $r);
+
 	if ( !isset($r['show_option_all']))
 		$r['show_option_all'] = '';
 	if ( !isset($r['show_option_none']))
@@ -184,8 +188,7 @@ function wp_dropdown_categories($args = '') {
 
 	extract($r);
 
-	$query = add_query_arg($r, '');
-	$categories = get_categories($query);
+	$categories = get_categories($r);
 
 	$output = '';
 	if ( ! empty($categories) ) {
@@ -243,7 +246,11 @@ function wp_list_cats($args = '') {
 }
 
 function wp_list_categories($args = '') {
-	parse_str($args, $r);
+	if ( is_array($args) )
+		$r = &$args;
+	else
+		parse_str($args, $r);
+
 	if ( !isset($r['optionall']))
 		$r['optionall'] = 0;
 	if ( !isset($r['all']))
@@ -284,8 +291,7 @@ function wp_list_categories($args = '') {
 	
 	extract($r);
 
-	$query = add_query_arg($r, '');
-	$categories = get_categories($query);
+	$categories = get_categories($r);
 	
 	$output = '';
 	if ( $title_li && $list )
@@ -425,7 +431,10 @@ function &_get_cat_children($category_id, $categories) {
 function &get_categories($args = '') {
 	global $wpdb, $category_links;
 
-	parse_str($args, $r);
+	if ( is_array($args) )
+		$r = &$args;
+	else
+		parse_str($args, $r);
 
 	if ( !isset($r['type']) )  // 'post' or 'link'
 		$r['type'] = 'post';
diff --git a/wp-includes/template-functions-post.php b/wp-includes/template-functions-post.php
index 01cd9726f..51380e584 100644
--- a/wp-includes/template-functions-post.php
+++ b/wp-includes/template-functions-post.php
@@ -295,7 +295,11 @@ function &get_page_children($page_id, $pages) {
 
 function &get_pages($args = '') {
 	global $wpdb;
-	parse_str($args, $r);
+
+	if ( is_array($args) )
+		$r = &$args;
+	else
+		parse_str($args, $r);
 
 	if ( !isset($r['child_of']) )
 		$r['child_of'] = 0;
@@ -335,7 +339,11 @@ function &get_pages($args = '') {
 }
 
 function wp_dropdown_pages($args = '') {
-	parse_str($args, $r);
+	if ( is_array($args) )
+		$r = &$args;
+	else
+		parse_str($args, $r);
+
 	if ( !isset($r['depth']) )
 		$r['depth'] = 0;
 	if ( !isset($r['child_of']) )
@@ -348,7 +356,7 @@ function wp_dropdown_pages($args = '') {
 		$r['name'] = 'page_id';
 	extract($r);
 
-	$pages = get_pages($args);
+	$pages = get_pages($r);
 	$output = '';
 
 	if ( ! empty($pages) ) {
@@ -380,7 +388,11 @@ function _page_dropdown_element($output, $page, $depth, $selected) {
 }
 
 function wp_list_pages($args = '') {
-	parse_str($args, $r);
+	if ( is_array($args) )
+		$r = &$args;
+	else
+		parse_str($args, $r);
+
 	if ( !isset($r['depth']) )
 		$r['depth'] = 0;
 	if ( !isset($r['show_date']) )
@@ -397,7 +409,7 @@ function wp_list_pages($args = '') {
 	$output = '';
 
 	// Query pages.
-	$pages = get_pages($args);
+	$pages = get_pages($r);
 
 	if ( !empty($pages) ) {
 		if ( $r['title_li'] )