diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/locales/i18n.js b/app/assets/javascripts/locales/i18n.js
index 0f2153e103..ddf3fd55f1 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/locales/i18n.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/locales/i18n.js
@@ -73,7 +73,13 @@ I18n.lookup = function(scope, options) {
     messages = messages[currentScope];
   }
 
-  messages = messages || checkExtras(origScope, this.SEPARATOR, this.extras) || options.defaultValue;
+  if (messages === undefined) {
+    messages = checkExtras(origScope, this.SEPARATOR, this.extras);
+  }
+
+  if (messages === undefined) {
+    messages = options.defaultValue;
+  }
 
   return messages;
 };
diff --git a/test/javascripts/lib/i18n-test.js.es6 b/test/javascripts/lib/i18n-test.js.es6
index 5a106a6b01..9fbfa7beac 100644
--- a/test/javascripts/lib/i18n-test.js.es6
+++ b/test/javascripts/lib/i18n-test.js.es6
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ module("lib:i18n", {
       "en": {
         "js": {
           "hello": {
-            "world": "Hello World!"
+            "world": "Hello World!",
+            "universe": ""
           },
           "topic": {
             "reply": {
@@ -68,6 +69,7 @@ test("translations", function() {
   equal(I18n.t("topic.reply.title"), "Répondre", "uses locale translations when they exist");
   equal(I18n.t("topic.reply.help"), "begin composing a reply to this topic", "fallbacks to English translations");
   equal(I18n.t("hello.world"), "Hello World!", "doesn't break if a key is overriden in a locale");
+  equal(I18n.t("hello.universe"), "", "allows empty strings");
 });
 
 test("extra translations", function() {