diff --git a/BUGS b/BUGS
index 61d6087..1a6279b 100644
--- a/BUGS
+++ b/BUGS
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 dr.botzo --- BUGS
 
-   * Countdown formatting has singular nouns for negative numbers (-21 day)
    * probably many, many more
    * possible to have not well-formed XML in pywapi.get_weather_from_google:
      xml.parsers.expat.ExpatError: not well-formed (invalid token)
diff --git a/dr_botzo/countdown/ircplugin.py b/dr_botzo/countdown/ircplugin.py
index 7890209..d2a106c 100644
--- a/dr_botzo/countdown/ircplugin.py
+++ b/dr_botzo/countdown/ircplugin.py
@@ -48,17 +48,17 @@ class Countdown(Plugin):
                 rdelta = relativedelta(item.at_time, timezone.now())
                 relstr = "{0:s} will occur in ".format(name)
                 if rdelta.years != 0:
-                    relstr += "{0:s} year{1:s} ".format(str(rdelta.years), "s" if rdelta.years != 1 else "")
+                    relstr += "{0:s} year{1:s} ".format(str(rdelta.years), "s" if abs(rdelta.years) != 1 else "")
                 if rdelta.months != 0:
-                    relstr += "{0:s} month{1:s}, ".format(str(rdelta.months), "s" if rdelta.months != 1 else "")
+                    relstr += "{0:s} month{1:s}, ".format(str(rdelta.months), "s" if abs(rdelta.months) != 1 else "")
                 if rdelta.days != 0:
-                    relstr += "{0:s} day{1:s}, ".format(str(rdelta.days), "s" if rdelta.days != 1 else "")
+                    relstr += "{0:s} day{1:s}, ".format(str(rdelta.days), "s" if abs(rdelta.days) != 1 else "")
                 if rdelta.hours != 0:
-                    relstr += "{0:s} hour{1:s}, ".format(str(rdelta.hours), "s" if rdelta.hours != 1 else "")
+                    relstr += "{0:s} hour{1:s}, ".format(str(rdelta.hours), "s" if abs(rdelta.hours) != 1 else "")
                 if rdelta.minutes != 0:
-                    relstr += "{0:s} minute{1:s}, ".format(str(rdelta.minutes), "s" if rdelta.minutes != 1 else "")
+                    relstr += "{0:s} minute{1:s}, ".format(str(rdelta.minutes), "s" if abs(rdelta.minutes) != 1 else "")
                 if rdelta.seconds != 0:
-                    relstr += "{0:s} second{1:s}, ".format(str(rdelta.seconds), "s" if rdelta.seconds != 1 else "")
+                    relstr += "{0:s} second{1:s}, ".format(str(rdelta.seconds), "s" if abs(rdelta.seconds) != 1 else "")
                 # remove trailing comma from output
                 reply = relstr[0:-2]
                 return self.bot.reply(event, reply)