diff --git a/jrnl/Journal.py b/jrnl/Journal.py
index 06cacff5..cbf754a2 100644
--- a/jrnl/Journal.py
+++ b/jrnl/Journal.py
@@ -254,6 +254,11 @@ class Journal(object):
                 # Use the default time.
                 date = datetime(year=int(date_str), month=1, day=1, hour=self.config['default_hour'], minute=self.config['default_minute'])
         else:
+            replacements = (u"september", u"sep"), (u"sept", u"sep"), (u"tuesday", u"tue"), \
+                                (u"tues", u"tue"), (u"thursday", u"thu"), (u"thurs", u"thu"), \
+                                (u" o'clock", u":00")
+            date_str = util.multiple_replace(date_str, *replacements)
+
             try:
                 date = dateutil.parser.parse(date_str)
                 flag = 1 if date.hour == 0 and date.minute == 0 else 2
diff --git a/jrnl/util.py b/jrnl/util.py
index 4b252cbd..13f92af4 100644
--- a/jrnl/util.py
+++ b/jrnl/util.py
@@ -141,3 +141,19 @@ def slugify(string):
     slug = re.sub(r'[-\s]+', '-', no_punctuation)
     return u(slug)
 
+# Use the following two functions to do multiple replacements in one pass
+# from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6116978/python-replace-multiple-strings
+#
+# Useage:
+# >>> replacements = (u"café", u"tea"), (u"tea", u"café"), (u"like", u"love")
+# >>> print multiple_replace(u"Do you like café? No, I prefer tea.", *replacements)
+# output: Do you love tea? No, I prefer café.
+
+def multiple_replacer(*key_values):
+    replace_dict = dict(key_values)
+    replacement_function = lambda match: replace_dict[match.group(0)]
+    pattern = re.compile("|".join([re.escape(k) for k, v in key_values]), re.M | re.I)
+    return lambda string: pattern.sub(replacement_function, string)
+
+def multiple_replace(string, *key_values):
+    return multiple_replacer(*key_values)(string)