diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 30fe4be67f8..f7b1e96710f 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -12,6 +12,15 @@ What's New in Python 2.4 alpha 1?
 Core and builtins
 -----------------
 
+- When method objects have an attribute that can be satisfied either
+  by the function object or by the method object, the function
+  object's attribute usually wins.  Christian Tismer pointed out that
+  that this is really a mistake, because this only happens for special
+  methods (like __reduce__) where the method object's version is
+  really more appropriate than the function's attribute.  So from now
+  on, all method attributes will have precedence over function
+  attributes with the same name.
+
 - Critical bugfix, for SF bug 839548:  if a weakref with a callback,
   its callback, and its weakly referenced object, all became part of
   cyclic garbage during a single run of garbage collection, the order
diff --git a/Objects/classobject.c b/Objects/classobject.c
index 84b297cad95..17a56467817 100644
--- a/Objects/classobject.c
+++ b/Objects/classobject.c
@@ -2138,19 +2138,34 @@ static PyMemberDef instancemethod_memberlist[] = {
 	{NULL}	/* Sentinel */
 };
 
-/* The getattr() implementation for PyMethod objects is similar to
-   PyObject_GenericGetAttr(), but instead of looking in __dict__ it
-   asks im_self for the attribute.  Then the error handling is a bit
-   different because we want to preserve the exception raised by the
-   delegate, unless we have an alternative from our class. */
+/* Christian Tismer argued convincingly that method attributes should
+   (nearly) always override function attributes.
+   The one exception is __doc__; there's a default __doc__ which
+   should only be used for the class, not for instances */
+
+static PyObject *
+instancemethod_get_doc(PyMethodObject *im, void *context)
+{
+	static PyObject *docstr;
+	if (docstr == NULL) {
+		docstr= PyString_InternFromString("__doc__");
+		if (docstr == NULL)
+			return NULL;
+	}
+	return PyObject_GetAttr(im->im_func, docstr);
+}
+
+static PyGetSetDef instancemethod_getset[] = {
+	{"__doc__", (getter)instancemethod_get_doc, NULL, NULL},
+	{0}
+};
 
 static PyObject *
 instancemethod_getattro(PyObject *obj, PyObject *name)
 {
 	PyMethodObject *im = (PyMethodObject *)obj;
 	PyTypeObject *tp = obj->ob_type;
-	PyObject *descr = NULL, *res;
-	descrgetfunc f = NULL;
+	PyObject *descr = NULL;
 
 	if (PyType_HasFeature(tp, Py_TPFLAGS_HAVE_CLASS)) {
 		if (tp->tp_dict == NULL) {
@@ -2160,30 +2175,17 @@ instancemethod_getattro(PyObject *obj, PyObject *name)
 		descr = _PyType_Lookup(tp, name);
 	}
 
-	f = NULL;
 	if (descr != NULL) {
-		f = TP_DESCR_GET(descr->ob_type);
-		if (f != NULL && PyDescr_IsData(descr))
+		descrgetfunc f = TP_DESCR_GET(descr->ob_type);
+		if (f != NULL)
 			return f(descr, obj, (PyObject *)obj->ob_type);
+		else {
+			Py_INCREF(descr);
+			return descr;
+		}
 	}
 
-	res = PyObject_GetAttr(im->im_func, name);
-	if (res != NULL || !PyErr_ExceptionMatches(PyExc_AttributeError))
-		return res;
-
-	if (f != NULL) {
-		PyErr_Clear();
-		return f(descr, obj, (PyObject *)obj->ob_type);
-	}
-
-	if (descr != NULL) {
-		PyErr_Clear();
-		Py_INCREF(descr);
-		return descr;
-	}
-
-	assert(PyErr_Occurred());
-	return NULL;
+	return PyObject_GetAttr(im->im_func, name);
 }
 
 PyDoc_STRVAR(instancemethod_doc,
@@ -2490,7 +2492,7 @@ PyTypeObject PyMethod_Type = {
 	0,					/* tp_iternext */
 	0,					/* tp_methods */
 	instancemethod_memberlist,		/* tp_members */
-	0,					/* tp_getset */
+	instancemethod_getset,			/* tp_getset */
 	0,					/* tp_base */
 	0,					/* tp_dict */
 	instancemethod_descr_get,		/* tp_descr_get */