diff --git a/lib/slug.rb b/lib/slug.rb
index c4fe8fdfb0f..86025079c5f 100644
--- a/lib/slug.rb
+++ b/lib/slug.rb
@@ -6,23 +6,24 @@
 module Slug
 
   def self.for(string)
+    str = string.dup.strip.downcase
+    
+    # The characters we want to replace with a hyphen
+    str.tr!("·/_,:;.", "\-")
 
-    str = string.dup
-    str.gsub!(/^\s+|\s+$/, '')
-    str.downcase!
-
-    from = "àáäâèéëêìíïîòóöôùúüûñç·/_,:;."
-    to   = "aaaaeeeeiiiioooouuuunc-------"
-
-    idx = 0
-    from.each_char do |c|
-      str.gsub!(c, to[idx])
-      idx += 1
-    end
-
+    # Convert to ASCII or remove if transliteration is unknown.
+    str = ActiveSupport::Inflector.transliterate(str, '')
+    
+    # Remove everything except alphanumberic, space, and hyphen characters.
     str.gsub!(/[^a-z0-9 -]/, '')
+    
+    # Replace multiple spaces with one hyphen.
     str.gsub!(/\s+/, '-')
+    
+    # Replace multiple hyphens with one hyphen.
     str.gsub!(/\-+/, '-')
+    
+    # Remove leading and trailing hyphens
     str.gsub!(/^-|-$/, '')
 
     str
diff --git a/spec/components/slug_spec.rb b/spec/components/slug_spec.rb
index fde5ebd8e33..44bd1177e8c 100644
--- a/spec/components/slug_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/components/slug_spec.rb
@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
 # encoding: utf-8
 
 require 'spec_helper'
-
 require 'slug'
 
 describe Slug do
 
-
   it 'replaces spaces with hyphens' do
     Slug.for("hello world").should == 'hello-world'
   end
@@ -35,5 +33,11 @@ describe Slug do
     Slug.for("...hello").should == "hello"
   end
 
+  it 'handles our initial transliteration' do
+    from = "àáäâčďèéëěêìíïîľĺňòóöôŕřšťůùúüûýžñç"
+    to   = "aaaacdeeeeeiiiillnoooorrstuuuuuyznc"
+    Slug.for(from).should == to
+  end
+
 end