diff --git a/wp-includes/cache.php b/wp-includes/cache.php
index 67c7b241a..f73f02bf6 100644
--- a/wp-includes/cache.php
+++ b/wp-includes/cache.php
@@ -350,7 +350,7 @@ class WP_Object_Cache {
 		if ( isset ($this->cache[$group][$id]) ) {
 			$this->cache_hits += 1;
 			if ( is_object($this->cache[$group][$id]) )
-				return wp_clone($this->cache[$group][$id]);
+				return clone $this->cache[$group][$id];
 			else
 				return $this->cache[$group][$id];
 		}
@@ -426,7 +426,7 @@ class WP_Object_Cache {
 			$data = '';
 
 		if ( is_object($data) )
-			$data = wp_clone($data);
+			$data = clone $data;
 
 		$this->cache[$group][$id] = $data;
 
diff --git a/wp-includes/comment.php b/wp-includes/comment.php
index c0c175661..08919f315 100644
--- a/wp-includes/comment.php
+++ b/wp-includes/comment.php
@@ -1394,7 +1394,7 @@ function wp_set_comment_status($comment_id, $comment_status, $wp_error = false)
 			return false;
 	}
 
-	$comment_old = wp_clone(get_comment($comment_id));
+	$comment_old = clone get_comment($comment_id);
 
 	if ( !$wpdb->update( $wpdb->comments, array('comment_approved' => $status), array('comment_ID' => $comment_id) ) ) {
 		if ( $wp_error )
diff --git a/wp-includes/deprecated.php b/wp-includes/deprecated.php
index 579f59fe3..bc2f7a0a1 100644
--- a/wp-includes/deprecated.php
+++ b/wp-includes/deprecated.php
@@ -2602,3 +2602,20 @@ function update_category_cache() {
 	return true;
 }
 
+
+/**
+ * Copy an object.
+ *
+ * Returns a cloned copy of an object.
+ *
+ * @since 2.7.0
+ * @deprecated 3.2
+ *
+ * @param object $object The object to clone
+ * @return object The cloned object
+ */
+function wp_clone( $object ) {
+	_deprecated_function( __FUNCTION__, '3.2' );
+
+	return clone $object;
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/wp-includes/functions.php b/wp-includes/functions.php
index 39fc45cf5..7abe4525b 100644
--- a/wp-includes/functions.php
+++ b/wp-includes/functions.php
@@ -509,7 +509,7 @@ function update_option( $option, $newvalue ) {
 	wp_protect_special_option( $option );
 
 	if ( is_object($newvalue) )
-		$newvalue = wp_clone($newvalue);
+		$newvalue = clone $newvalue;
 
 	$newvalue = sanitize_option( $option, $newvalue );
 	$oldvalue = get_option( $option );
@@ -590,8 +590,12 @@ function add_option( $option, $value = '', $deprecated = '', $autoload = 'yes' )
 
 	wp_protect_special_option( $option );
 
+	/* 
+	 * FIXME the next two lines of code are not necessary and should be removed.
+	 * @see http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/13480
+	 */
 	if ( is_object($value) )
-		$value = wp_clone($value);
+		$value = clone $value;
 
 	$value = sanitize_option( $option, $value );
 
diff --git a/wp-includes/load.php b/wp-includes/load.php
index e60f90da6..1a4654165 100644
--- a/wp-includes/load.php
+++ b/wp-includes/load.php
@@ -553,24 +553,6 @@ function shutdown_action_hook() {
 	wp_cache_close();
 }
 
-/**
- * Copy an object.
- *
- * Returns a cloned copy of an object.
- *
- * @since 2.7.0
- *
- * @param object $object The object to clone
- * @return object The cloned object
- */
-function wp_clone( $object ) {
-	static $can_clone;
-	if ( !isset( $can_clone ) )
-		$can_clone = version_compare( phpversion(), '5.0', '>=' );
-
-	return $can_clone ? clone( $object ) : $object;
-}
-
 /**
  * Whether the current request is for a network or blog admin page
  *