diff --git a/src/utils.py b/src/utils.py
index 982dd5054..3154ceef7 100755
--- a/src/utils.py
+++ b/src/utils.py
@@ -127,10 +127,10 @@ def timeElapsed(elapsed, short=False, leadingZeroes=False, years=True,
     """
     ret = []
     def format(s, i):
-        if short:
-            ret.append('%s%s' % (i, s[0]))
-        else:
-            if leadingZeroes or ret or i:
+        if i or leadingZeroes or ret:
+            if short:
+                ret.append('%s%s' % (i, s[0]))
+            else:
                 ret.append(nItems(s, i))
     elapsed = int(elapsed)
     assert years or weeks or days or \
diff --git a/test/test_utils.py b/test/test_utils.py
index 1495f38c0..5b5e818ef 100644
--- a/test/test_utils.py
+++ b/test/test_utils.py
@@ -98,6 +98,9 @@ class UtilsTest(SupyTestCase):
                                        'and 2 seconds')]:
             self.assertEqual(utils.timeElapsed(now - then), expected)
 
+    def timeElapsedShort(self):
+        self.assertEqual(utils.timeElapsed(123, short=True), '2m 3s')
+
     def testEachSubstring(self):
         s = 'foobar'
         L = ['f', 'fo', 'foo', 'foob', 'fooba', 'foobar']