diff --git a/frontend_tests/node_tests/util.js b/frontend_tests/node_tests/util.js
index 74673c660c..039b7c783a 100644
--- a/frontend_tests/node_tests/util.js
+++ b/frontend_tests/node_tests/util.js
@@ -135,6 +135,14 @@ var _ = global._;
     }
 }());
 
+(function test_dumb_strcmp() {
+    Intl.Collator = undefined;
+    var strcmp = util.make_strcmp();
+    assert.equal(strcmp('a', 'b'), -1);
+    assert.equal(strcmp('c', 'c'), 0);
+    assert.equal(strcmp('z', 'y'), 1);
+}());
+
 (function test_is_mobile() {
     global.window.navigator = { userAgent: "Android" };
     assert(util.is_mobile());
diff --git a/static/js/util.js b/static/js/util.js
index 167871611f..0644cefbfb 100644
--- a/static/js/util.js
+++ b/static/js/util.js
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ exports.rtrim = function (str) {
 // doesn't support the ECMAScript Internationalization API
 // Specification, do a dumb string comparison because
 // String.localeCompare is really slow.
-exports.strcmp = (function () {
+exports.make_strcmp = function () {
     try {
         var collator = new Intl.Collator();
         return collator.compare;
@@ -149,7 +149,8 @@ exports.strcmp = (function () {
     return function util_strcmp(a, b) {
         return (a < b ? -1 : (a > b ? 1 : 0));
     };
-}());
+};
+exports.strcmp = exports.make_strcmp();
 
 exports.escape_regexp = function (string) {
     // code from https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Regular_Expressions