diff --git a/base/nullable.jl b/base/nullable.jl
index fcdd29bad68e9..ee74abca73c7c 100644
--- a/base/nullable.jl
+++ b/base/nullable.jl
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ eltype{T}(::Type{Nullable{T}}) = T
 
 eltype{T}(x::Nullable{T}) = T
 
-function convert{S, T}(::Type{Nullable{T}}, x::Nullable{S})
+function convert{T}(::Type{Nullable{T}}, x::Nullable)
     return isnull(x) ? Nullable{T}() : Nullable(convert(T, get(x)))
 end
 
@@ -29,11 +29,11 @@ end
 
 get(x::Nullable) = x.isnull ? throw(NullException()) : x.value
 
-get{S, T}(x::Nullable{S}, y::T) = x.isnull ? convert(S, y) : x.value
+get{T}(x::Nullable{T}, y) = x.isnull ? convert(T, y) : x.value
 
 isnull(x::Nullable) = x.isnull
 
-function isequal{S, T}(x::Nullable{S}, y::Nullable{T})
+function isequal(x::Nullable, y::Nullable)
     if x.isnull && y.isnull
         return true
     elseif x.isnull || y.isnull
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ function isequal{S, T}(x::Nullable{S}, y::Nullable{T})
     end
 end
 
-=={S, T}(x::Nullable{S}, y::Nullable{T}) = throw(NullException())
+==(x::Nullable, y::Nullable) = throw(NullException())
 
 const nullablehash_seed = UInt === UInt64 ? 0x932e0143e51d0171 : 0xe51d0171
 
diff --git a/doc/stdlib/base.rst b/doc/stdlib/base.rst
index 7f5ee13592bc2..02242d403ef8b 100644
--- a/doc/stdlib/base.rst
+++ b/doc/stdlib/base.rst
@@ -1321,7 +1321,7 @@ Nullables
 
 .. function:: isnull(x)
 
-   Does the ``Nullable`` object ``x`` have a value or not?
+   Is the ``Nullable`` object ``x`` null, i.e. missing a value?
 
 Strings
 -------