diff --git a/bot.py b/bot.py
index 9208061..63e4173 100755
--- a/bot.py
+++ b/bot.py
@@ -13,11 +13,12 @@ import thread
 import Queue
 import collections
 
+sys.path += ['plugins'] # so 'import hook' works without duplication
+
 import irc
 import yaml
 
 os.chdir(sys.path[0])   # do stuff relative to the installation directory
-sys.path += ['plugins'] # so 'import hook' works without duplication
 
 class Bot(object):
     def __init__(self, nick, channel, network):
@@ -68,7 +69,7 @@ print
 print 'Connecting to IRC'
 bot.irc = irc.irc(network, nick)
 bot.irc.join(channel)
-bot.commandprefix = '^(?:\.|'+nick+'[:,]*\s*)'
+bot.commandprefix = r'^(?:[.!]|'+nick+r'[:,]*\s*)'
 bot.persist_dir = os.path.abspath('persist')
 
 print 'Running main loop'
diff --git a/plugins/iambuttbot.py b/plugins/iambuttbot.py
index d836575..9114e94 100644
--- a/plugins/iambuttbot.py
+++ b/plugins/iambuttbot.py
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ def iambuttbot(bot, input):
     if input.nick.lower() != 'buttbot': 
         return
 
+    if '@' in input or '#' in input:
+        return #prevent abuse
+
     password = open('iambuttbot_password').readlines()[0].strip()
     status = input.inp if len(input.inp) <= 140 else input.inp[:137] + "..."
     data = urllib.urlencode({"status": status.encode('utf8')})
diff --git a/plugins/twitter.py b/plugins/twitter.py
index b17c026..715bc35 100644
--- a/plugins/twitter.py
+++ b/plugins/twitter.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ def twitter(bot, input):
     try:
         tweet = etree.parse(url)
     except IOError:
-        return 'RoR: XTREME scalability (twitter is unresponsive)'
+        return 'RoR: XTREME scalability (twitter gave an error)'
 
     if tweet.find('error') is not None:
         return "can't find that username"
diff --git a/plugins/urbandictionary.py b/plugins/urbandictionary.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b9bb0e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/urbandictionary.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+from lxml import html
+
+import urllib
+import hook
+
+@hook.command('u')
+@hook.command
+def urban(inp):
+    '''.u/.urban <phrase> -- looks up <phrase> on urbandictionary.com'''
+    if not inp.strip():
+        return urban.__doc__
+
+    url = 'http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=' + \
+            urllib.quote(inp.strip(), safe='')
+    page = html.parse(url)
+    defs = page.xpath("//div[@class='definition']")
+
+    print repr(defs[0].text_content())
+
+    if not defs:
+        return 'no definitions found'
+
+    out = ' '.join(defs[0].text_content().split())
+
+    if len(out) > 400:
+        out = out[:out.rfind(' ', 0, 400)] + '...'
+
+    return out