diff --git a/samples/pelican.conf.py b/samples/pelican.conf.py
index bffe57f6..fffbf1a8 100755
--- a/samples/pelican.conf.py
+++ b/samples/pelican.conf.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ GITHUB_URL = 'http://github.com/ametaireau/'
 DISQUS_SITENAME = "blog-notmyidea"
 PDF_GENERATOR = False
 REVERSE_CATEGORY_ORDER = True
-LOCALE = ""
+LOCALE = "C"
 DEFAULT_PAGINATION = 4
 
 FEED_RSS = 'feeds/all.rss.xml'
diff --git a/tests/test_pelican.py b/tests/test_pelican.py
index a331690b..0458d58c 100644
--- a/tests/test_pelican.py
+++ b/tests/test_pelican.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import os
 from filecmp import dircmp
 from tempfile import mkdtemp
 from shutil import rmtree
+import locale
 
 from mock import patch
 
@@ -27,9 +28,12 @@ class TestPelican(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def setUp(self):
         self.temp_path = mkdtemp()
+        self.old_locale = locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL)
+        locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, 'C')
 
     def tearDown(self):
         rmtree(self.temp_path)
+        locale.setlocale(locale.LC_ALL, self.old_locale)
 
     def test_basic_generation_works(self):
         # when running pelican without settings, it should pick up the default