diff --git a/msgfmt b/msgfmt
index a21f740..8647468 100755
--- a/msgfmt
+++ b/msgfmt
@@ -20,6 +20,27 @@
 #  along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 # #
 
+# HTML replacements (default)
+lquo='\&ldquo;'
+rquo='\&rdquo;'
+mdash='\&mdash;'
+
+# redefines replacements to yield plain text (instead of HTML entities)
+nohtml()
+{
+  lquo=\"
+  rquo=\"
+  mdash=---
+}
+
+
+while getopts n opt; do
+  case "$opt" in
+    n) nohtml;;
+  esac
+done
+
+
 # format the commit message, stopping at the diff (if any)
 awk '/^diff --git/ { exit } { print }' \
   | sed ':a;N;$!ba;
@@ -45,7 +66,7 @@ awk '/^diff --git/ { exit } { print }' \
     s#\n\n#</p>&<p>#g;
 
     # basic formatting
-    s/---/\&mdash;/g;
-    s#``#\&ldquo;#g;
-    s#'\'\''#\&rdquo;#g;
+    s/---/'"$mdash"'/g;
+    s#``#'"$lquo"'#g;
+    s#'\'\''#'"$rquo"'#g;
   '
diff --git a/rss b/rss
index 821f7b1..0caac1d 100755
--- a/rss
+++ b/rss
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ while read hash commit ts id subject; do
   # the title)
   cat <<EOE
     <item>
-      <title><![CDATA[$( ./msgfmt < <( echo "$subject"; echo ) )]]></title>
+      <title><![CDATA[$( ./msgfmt -n < <( echo "$subject"; echo ) )]]></title>
       <link>$(
         printf "%s/%s/%s.html" \
           "${url/%\/}" "$( ./tsdate "$ts" %Y/%m )" "$id"