diff --git a/wp-content/plugins/hello.php b/wp-content/plugins/hello.php
index 4f6d785b40..2877f08346 100644
--- a/wp-content/plugins/hello.php
+++ b/wp-content/plugins/hello.php
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ add_action('admin_footer', 'hello_dolly');
 // We need some CSS to position the paragraph
 function dolly_css() {
 	// This makes sure that the posinioning is also good for right-to-left languages
-	$x = ( 'rtl' == get_bloginfo( 'text_direction' ) ) ? 'left' : 'right';
+	$x = ( is_rtl() ) ? 'left' : 'right';
 
 	echo "
 	<style type='text/css'>
diff --git a/wp-includes/functions.php b/wp-includes/functions.php
index e52fb11a60..6747143016 100644
--- a/wp-includes/functions.php
+++ b/wp-includes/functions.php
@@ -2605,8 +2605,6 @@ function wp_die( $message, $title = '', $args = array() ) {
  * @param string|array $args Optional arguements to control behaviour.
  */
 function _default_wp_die_handler( $message, $title = '', $args = array() ) {
-	global $wp_locale;
-
 	$defaults = array( 'response' => 500 );
 	$r = wp_parse_args($args, $defaults);
 
@@ -2661,7 +2659,7 @@ function _default_wp_die_handler( $message, $title = '', $args = array() ) {
 	$text_direction = 'ltr';
 	if ( isset($r['text_direction']) && 'rtl' == $r['text_direction'] )
 		$text_direction = 'rtl';
-	elseif ( isset($wp_locale ) && 'rtl' == $wp_locale->text_direction )
+	elseif ( function_exists( 'is_rtl' ) && is_rtl() )
 		$text_direction = 'rtl';
 ?>
 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
@@ -2743,9 +2741,7 @@ function _config_wp_siteurl( $url = '' ) {
  * @return array Direction set for 'rtl', if needed by locale.
  */
 function _mce_set_direction( $input ) {
-	global $wp_locale;
-
-	if ( 'rtl' == $wp_locale->text_direction ) {
+	if ( is_rtl() ) {
 		$input['directionality'] = 'rtl';
 		$input['plugins'] .= ',directionality';
 		$input['theme_advanced_buttons1'] .= ',ltr';
diff --git a/wp-includes/general-template.php b/wp-includes/general-template.php
index ba975eec09..e5130b58a4 100644
--- a/wp-includes/general-template.php
+++ b/wp-includes/general-template.php
@@ -398,7 +398,7 @@ function get_bloginfo( $show = '', $filter = 'raw' ) {
 	switch( $show ) {
 		case 'home' : // DEPRECATED
 		case 'siteurl' : // DEPRECATED
-			_deprecated_argument( __FUNCTION__, '2.2', sprintf( __('The <code>%1$s</code> option is deprecated for the family of <code>bloginfo()</code> functions. Use the <code>%2$s</code> option instead.'), $show, 'url' ) );
+			_deprecated_argument( __FUNCTION__, '2.2', sprintf( __('The <code>%s</code> option is deprecated for the family of <code>bloginfo()</code> functions.' ), $show ) . ' ' . sprintf( __( 'Use the <code>%s</code> option instead.' ), 'url'  ) );
 		case 'url' :
 			$output = home_url();
 			break;
@@ -458,11 +458,8 @@ function get_bloginfo( $show = '', $filter = 'raw' ) {
 			$output = str_replace('_', '-', $output);
 			break;
 		case 'text_direction':
-			global $wp_locale;
-			if ( isset( $wp_locale ) )
-				$output = $wp_locale->text_direction;
-			else
-				$output = 'ltr';
+			//_deprecated_argument( __FUNCTION__, '2.2', sprintf( __('The <code>%s</code> option is deprecated for the family of <code>bloginfo()</code> functions.' ), $show ) . ' ' . sprintf( __( 'Use the <code>%s</code> function instead.' ), 'is_rtl()'  ) );
+			return function_exists( 'is_rtl' ) ? is_rtl() : 'ltr';
 			break;
 		case 'name':
 		default:
@@ -1874,8 +1871,8 @@ function language_attributes($doctype = 'html') {
 	$attributes = array();
 	$output = '';
 
-	if ( $dir = get_bloginfo('text_direction') )
-		$attributes[] = "dir=\"$dir\"";
+	if ( function_exists( 'is_rtl' ) )
+		$attributes[] = 'dir="' . ( is_rtl() ? 'rtl' : 'ltr' ) . '"';
 
 	if ( $lang = get_bloginfo('language') ) {
 		if ( get_option('html_type') == 'text/html' || $doctype == 'html' )
@@ -2112,7 +2109,7 @@ function wp_admin_css( $file = 'wp-admin', $force_echo = false ) {
 	}
 
 	echo apply_filters( 'wp_admin_css', "<link rel='stylesheet' href='" . wp_admin_css_uri( $file ) . "' type='text/css' />\n", $file );
-	if ( 'rtl' == get_bloginfo( 'text_direction' ) )
+	if ( is_rtl() )
 		echo apply_filters( 'wp_admin_css', "<link rel='stylesheet' href='" . wp_admin_css_uri( "$file-rtl" ) . "' type='text/css' />\n", "$file-rtl" );
 }
 
diff --git a/wp-includes/js/tinymce/wp-mce-help.php b/wp-includes/js/tinymce/wp-mce-help.php
index a65b527a96..bb431bde25 100644
--- a/wp-includes/js/tinymce/wp-mce-help.php
+++ b/wp-includes/js/tinymce/wp-mce-help.php
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ wp_admin_css( 'wp-admin', true );
 		border-bottom: 0px;
 	}
 </style>
-<?php if ( ('rtl' == $wp_locale->text_direction) ) : ?>
+<?php if ( is_rtl() ) : ?>
 <style type="text/css">
 	#wphead, #tabs {
 		padding-left: auto;
diff --git a/wp-includes/locale.php b/wp-includes/locale.php
index 4972b8b7dc..bb5b560b79 100644
--- a/wp-includes/locale.php
+++ b/wp-includes/locale.php
@@ -326,6 +326,26 @@ class WP_Locale {
 		$this->init();
 		$this->register_globals();
 	}
+	/**
+	 * Checks if current locale is RTL.
+	 *
+	 * @since 3.0.0
+	 * @return bool Whether locale is RTL.
+	 */
+	 function is_rtl() {
+	 	return 'rtl' == $this->text_direction;
+	 }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Checks if current locale is RTL.
+ *
+ * @since 3.0.0
+ * @return bool Whether locale is RTL.
+ */
+function is_rtl() {
+	global $wp_locale;
+	return $wp_locale->is_rtl();
 }
 
 ?>
diff --git a/wp-includes/media.php b/wp-includes/media.php
index a61fbbba92..23abf1d9f7 100644
--- a/wp-includes/media.php
+++ b/wp-includes/media.php
@@ -781,7 +781,7 @@ function gallery_shortcode($attr) {
 	$captiontag = tag_escape($captiontag);
 	$columns = intval($columns);
 	$itemwidth = $columns > 0 ? floor(100/$columns) : 100;
-	$float = $wp_locale->text_direction == 'rtl' ? 'right' : 'left';
+	$float = is_rtl() ? 'right' : 'left';
 
 	$selector = "gallery-{$instance}";
 
diff --git a/wp-includes/post-template.php b/wp-includes/post-template.php
index 0a93023add..a9e3fb81f7 100644
--- a/wp-includes/post-template.php
+++ b/wp-includes/post-template.php
@@ -372,7 +372,7 @@ function get_body_class( $class = '' ) {
 
 	$classes = array();
 
-	if ( 'rtl' == get_bloginfo( 'text_direction' ) )
+	if ( is_rtl() )
 		$classes[] = 'rtl';
 
 	if ( is_front_page() )
diff --git a/wp-includes/script-loader.php b/wp-includes/script-loader.php
index 6005cd8316..58bda6395a 100644
--- a/wp-includes/script-loader.php
+++ b/wp-includes/script-loader.php
@@ -433,7 +433,7 @@ function wp_default_styles( &$styles ) {
 	$styles->base_url = $guessurl;
 	$styles->content_url = defined('WP_CONTENT_URL')? WP_CONTENT_URL : '';
 	$styles->default_version = get_bloginfo( 'version' );
-	$styles->text_direction = 'rtl' == get_bloginfo( 'text_direction' ) ? 'rtl' : 'ltr';
+	$styles->text_direction = function_exists( 'is_rtl' ) && is_rtl() ? 'rtl' : 'ltr';
 	$styles->default_dirs = array('/wp-admin/');
 
 	$suffix = defined('SCRIPT_DEBUG') && SCRIPT_DEBUG ? '.dev' : '';
diff --git a/wp-includes/theme.php b/wp-includes/theme.php
index 608d2ed11c..f4250b1945 100644
--- a/wp-includes/theme.php
+++ b/wp-includes/theme.php
@@ -1580,7 +1580,7 @@ function add_editor_style( $stylesheet = 'editor-style.css' ) {
 	global $editor_styles;
 	$editor_styles = (array) $editor_styles;
 	$stylesheet    = (array) $stylesheet;
-	if ('rtl' == get_bloginfo('text_direction') ) {
+	if ( is_rtl() ) {
 		$rtl_stylesheet = str_replace('.css', '-rtl.css', $stylesheet[0]);
 		$stylesheet[] = $rtl_stylesheet;
 	}
