diff --git a/plugins/youtube.py b/plugins/youtube.py
index ede38c7..404f586 100644
--- a/plugins/youtube.py
+++ b/plugins/youtube.py
@@ -1,19 +1,16 @@
-import locale
 import re
 import time
 
 from util import hook, http
 
 
-locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, '')
-
 youtube_re = (r'(?:youtube.*?(?:v=|/v/)|youtu\.be/|yooouuutuuube.*?id=)'
               '([-_a-z0-9]+)', re.I)
 
 base_url = 'http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/'
 url = base_url + 'videos/%s?v=2&alt=jsonc'
 search_api_url = base_url + 'videos?v=2&alt=jsonc&max-results=1'
-video_url = "http://youtube.com/watch?v=%s"
+video_url = 'http://youtube.com/watch?v=%s'
 
 
 def get_video_description(vid_id):
@@ -41,21 +38,26 @@ def get_video_description(vid_id):
         out += ' - rated \x02%.2f/5.0\x02 (%d)' % (j['rating'],
                                                    j['ratingCount'])
 
-    # The use of str.decode() prevents UnicodeDecodeError with some locales
-    # See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4082645/
     if 'viewCount' in j:
-        out += ' - \x02%s\x02 views' % locale.format('%d',
-                                                     j['viewCount'], 1).decode(locale.getlocale()[1])
+        out += ' - \x02%s\x02 views' % group_int_digits(j['viewCount'])
 
     upload_time = time.strptime(j['uploaded'], "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.000Z")
-    out += ' - \x02%s\x02 on \x02%s\x02' % (j['uploader'],
-                                            time.strftime("%Y.%m.%d", upload_time))
+    out += ' - \x02%s\x02 on \x02%s\x02' % (
+                        j['uploader'], time.strftime("%Y.%m.%d", upload_time))
 
     if 'contentRating' in j:
         out += ' - \x034NSFW\x02'
 
     return out
 
+def group_int_digits(number, delimiter=' ', grouping=3):
+    base = str(number).strip()
+    builder = []
+    while base:
+        builder.append(base[-grouping:])
+        base = base[:-grouping]
+    builder.reverse()
+    return delimiter.join(builder)
 
 @hook.regex(*youtube_re)
 def youtube_url(match):
@@ -71,7 +73,7 @@ def youtube(inp):
     j = http.get_json(search_api_url, q=inp)
 
     if 'error' in j:
-        return 'error performing search'
+        return 'error while performing the search'
 
     if j['data']['totalItems'] == 0:
         return 'no results found'