diff --git a/bot.py b/bot.py
index a79fc7b..b9de4cc 100755
--- a/bot.py
+++ b/bot.py
@@ -6,18 +6,12 @@ channel = "#cobol"
 
 import sys
 import os
-import glob
-import re
-import thread
 import Queue
-import collections
 
 sys.path += ['plugins'] # so 'import hook' works without duplication
+os.chdir(sys.path[0])   # do stuff relative to the installation directory
 
 import irc
-import yaml
-
-os.chdir(sys.path[0])   # do stuff relative to the installation directory
 
 
 class Bot(object):
diff --git a/core/main.py b/core/main.py
index 147c7e2..c15e525 100644
--- a/core/main.py
+++ b/core/main.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import thread
+
 class Input(object):
 
     def __init__(self, raw, prefix, command,
diff --git a/core/reload.py b/core/reload.py
index 40066bd..a468546 100644
--- a/core/reload.py
+++ b/core/reload.py
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+import glob
+import collections
+
 if 'plugin_mtimes' not in globals():
     mtimes = {}
 
diff --git a/irc.py b/irc.py
index 0a3144e..e8a09dd 100644
--- a/irc.py
+++ b/irc.py
@@ -52,10 +52,10 @@ class crlf_tcp(asynchat.async_chat):
         self.iqueue.put(decode(line))
         self.buffer = ''
 
-irc_prefix_re = re.compile(r'(.*?) (.*?) (.*)')
-irc_noprefix_re = re.compile(r'()(.*?) (.*)')
-irc_param_re = re.compile(r'(?:^|(?<= ))(:.*|[^ ]+)')
-irc_netmask_re = re.compile(r':?([^!@]*)!?([^@]*)@?(.*)')
+irc_prefix_rem = re.compile(r'(.*?) (.*?) (.*)').match
+irc_noprefix_rem = re.compile(r'()(.*?) (.*)').match
+irc_netmask_rem = re.compile(r':?([^!@]*)!?([^@]*)@?(.*)').match
+irc_param_ref = re.compile(r'(?:^|(?<= ))(:.*|[^ ]+)').findall
 
 
 class irc(object):
@@ -76,11 +76,11 @@ class irc(object):
         while True:
             msg = self.conn.iqueue.get()
             if msg.startswith(":"): #has a prefix
-                prefix, command, params = irc_prefix_re.match(msg).groups()
+                prefix, command, params = irc_prefix_rem(msg).groups()
             else:
-                prefix, command, params = irc_noprefix_re.match(msg).groups()
-            nick, user, host = irc_netmask_re.match(prefix).groups()
-            paramlist = irc_param_re.findall(params)
+                prefix, command, params = irc_noprefix_rem(msg).groups()
+            nick, user, host = irc_netmask_rem(prefix).groups()
+            paramlist = irc_param_ref(params)
             lastparam = ""
             if paramlist and paramlist[-1].startswith(':'):
                     lastparam = paramlist[-1][1:]
diff --git a/plugins/hook.py b/plugins/hook.py
index e27bc23..9b3d4ae 100644
--- a/plugins/hook.py
+++ b/plugins/hook.py
@@ -46,7 +46,10 @@ def command(func=None, hook=None, **kwargs):
         if func is not None:
             args['name'] = func
         if hook is not None:
-            args['hook'] = hook
+            if isinstance(hook, list):
+                args['hook'] = '(?:' + '|'.join(hook) + ')'
+            else:
+                args['hook'] = hook
         args.update(kwargs)
         return command_wrapper
     else:
diff --git a/plugins/urbandictionary.py b/plugins/urbandictionary.py
index 755b132..5d12bd7 100644
--- a/plugins/urbandictionary.py
+++ b/plugins/urbandictionary.py
@@ -1,11 +1,10 @@
-import lxml
+from lxml import html
 import urllib
 
 import hook
 
 
-@hook.command('u')
-@hook.command
+@hook.command(['u', 'urban'])
 def urban(inp):
     '''.u/.urban <phrase> -- looks up <phrase> on urbandictionary.com'''
     if not inp.strip():
@@ -13,7 +12,7 @@ def urban(inp):
 
     url = 'http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=' + \
             urllib.quote(inp.strip(), safe='')
-    page = lxml.html.parse(url)
+    page = html.parse(url)
     defs = page.xpath("//div[@class='definition']")
 
     if not defs: