diff --git a/lib/couchrest.rb b/lib/couchrest.rb
index e4a8215..958db9e 100644
--- a/lib/couchrest.rb
+++ b/lib/couchrest.rb
@@ -69,6 +69,18 @@ module CouchRest
       Object.module_eval("::#{$1}", __FILE__, __LINE__)
     end
     
+    # extracted from Extlib
+    #    
+    # Capitalizes the first word and turns underscores into spaces and strips _id.
+    # Like titleize, this is meant for creating pretty output.
+    #
+    # @example
+    #   "employee_salary" #=> "Employee salary"
+    #   "author_id" #=> "Author"
+    def humanize(lower_case_and_underscored_word)
+      lower_case_and_underscored_word.to_s.gsub(/_id$/, "").gsub(/_/, " ").capitalize
+    end
+    
     # todo, make this parse the url and instantiate a Server or Database instance
     # depending on the specificity.
     def new(*opts)
diff --git a/lib/couchrest/validation/validation_errors.rb b/lib/couchrest/validation/validation_errors.rb
index 0852244..b5aa106 100644
--- a/lib/couchrest/validation/validation_errors.rb
+++ b/lib/couchrest/validation/validation_errors.rb
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ module CouchRest
       cattr_writer :default_error_messages
 
       def self.default_error_message(key, field, *values)
-        field = Extlib::Inflection.humanize(field)
+        field = CouchRest.humanize(field)
         @@default_error_messages[key] % [field, *values].flatten
       end
 
diff --git a/lib/couchrest/validation/validators/format_validator.rb b/lib/couchrest/validation/validators/format_validator.rb
index 192f715..eaeb1e1 100644
--- a/lib/couchrest/validation/validators/format_validator.rb
+++ b/lib/couchrest/validation/validators/format_validator.rb
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ module CouchRest
 
         error_message = @options[:message] || ValidationErrors.default_error_message(:invalid, field_name)
 
-        field = Extlib::Inflection.humanize(field_name)
+        field = CouchRest.humanize(field_name)
         error_message = error_message.call(field, value) if error_message.respond_to?(:call)
 
         add_error(target, error_message, field_name)
diff --git a/lib/couchrest/validation/validators/length_validator.rb b/lib/couchrest/validation/validators/length_validator.rb
index 104d5af..272b479 100644
--- a/lib/couchrest/validation/validators/length_validator.rb
+++ b/lib/couchrest/validation/validators/length_validator.rb
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ module CouchRest
 
         # XXX: HACK seems hacky to do this on every validation, probably should
         #      do this elsewhere?
-        field = Extlib::Inflection.humanize(field_name)
+        field = CouchRest.humanize(field_name)
         min = @range ? @range.min : @min
         max = @range ? @range.max : @max
         equal = @equal