diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 707a241..279bc30 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -2,5 +2,5 @@
 *.log??
 build
 node_modules
-
 .bob/
+test/streams/test-rolling-file-stream*
diff --git a/lib/layouts.js b/lib/layouts.js
index d5971d1..1c46dd4 100644
--- a/lib/layouts.js
+++ b/lib/layouts.js
@@ -26,40 +26,19 @@ var dateFormat = require('./date_format')
   OFF: "grey"
 };
 
-function formatLogData(logData) {
-  var output = ""
-  , data = Array.isArray(logData) ? logData.slice() : Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments)
-  , format = data.shift();
-  
-  if (typeof format  === "string") {
-    output = format.replace(replacementRegExp, function(match) {
-      switch (match) {
-      case "%s": 
-        return data.shift().toString();
-      case "%d": 
-        return new Number(data.shift());
-      case "%j": 
-        return JSON.stringify(data.shift());
-      default:
-        return match;
-      }
-    });
-  } else {
-    //put it back, it's not a format string
-    data.unshift(format);
-  }
-
-  data.forEach(function (item) {
-    if (output) {
-      output += ' ';
-    }
-    output += util.inspect(item);
-    if (item && item.stack) {
-      output += "\n" + item.stack;
+function wrapErrorsWithInspect(items) {
+  return items.map(function(item) {
+    if ((item instanceof Error) && item.stack) {
+      return { inspect: function() { return util.format(item) + '\n' + item.stack; } };
+    } else {
+      return item;
     }
   });
+}
 
-  return output;
+function formatLogData(logData) {
+  var data = Array.isArray(logData) ? logData : Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments);
+  return util.format.apply(util, wrapErrorsWithInspect(data));
 }
 
 var styles = {
diff --git a/test/layouts-test.js b/test/layouts-test.js
index d7da866..f380214 100644
--- a/test/layouts-test.js
+++ b/test/layouts-test.js
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ vows.describe('log4js layouts').addBatch({
       });
       assert.equal(output, '\x1B[31m[2010-12-05 14:18:30.045] [ERROR] cheese - \x1B[39mnonsense');
     },
-    
     'should support the console.log format for the message': function(layout) {
       var output = layout({
         data: ["thing %d", 2],
@@ -66,7 +65,7 @@ vows.describe('log4js layouts').addBatch({
           colour: "green", 
           toString: function() { return "ERROR"; }
         }
-      }), "thing 1 'cheese'");
+      }), "thing 1 cheese");
     },
     'should output the first item even if it is not a string': function(layout) {
       assert.equal(layout({