diff --git a/lib/haml/buffer.rb b/lib/haml/buffer.rb
index 193adf51..171a7e4e 100644
--- a/lib/haml/buffer.rb
+++ b/lib/haml/buffer.rb
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ RUBY
     def attributes(class_id, obj_ref, *attributes_hashes)
       attributes = class_id
       attributes_hashes.each do |old|
-        self.class.merge_attrs(attributes, to_hash(old.map {|k, v| [k.to_s, v]}))
+        self.class.merge_attrs(attributes, Hash[old.map {|k, v| [k.to_s, v]}])
       end
       self.class.merge_attrs(attributes, parse_object_ref(obj_ref)) if obj_ref
       Compiler.build_attributes(
diff --git a/lib/haml/util.rb b/lib/haml/util.rb
index 7a4c343e..33f8628d 100755
--- a/lib/haml/util.rb
+++ b/lib/haml/util.rb
@@ -27,17 +27,6 @@ module Haml
       File.expand_path("../../../#{file}", __FILE__)
     end
 
-    # Converts an array of `[key, value]` pairs to a hash.
-    #
-    # @example
-    #   to_hash([[:foo, "bar"], [:baz, "bang"]])
-    #     #=> {:foo => "bar", :baz => "bang"}
-    # @param arr [Array<(Object, Object)>] An array of pairs
-    # @return [Hash] A hash
-    def to_hash(arr)
-      Hash[arr.compact]
-    end
-
     # Computes the powerset of the given array.
     # This is the set of all subsets of the array.
     #
diff --git a/test/util_test.rb b/test/util_test.rb
index 6bac1a16..a1bbeb85 100644
--- a/test/util_test.rb
+++ b/test/util_test.rb
@@ -20,14 +20,6 @@ class UtilTest < MiniTest::Unit::TestCase
     assert(File.exist?(scope("Rakefile")))
   end
 
-  def test_to_hash
-    assert_equal({
-        :foo => 1,
-        :bar => 2,
-        :baz => 3
-      }, to_hash([[:foo, 1], [:bar, 2], [:baz, 3]]))
-  end
-
   def test_powerset
     return unless Set[Set[]] == Set[Set[]] # There's a bug in Ruby 1.8.6 that breaks nested set equality
     assert_equal([[].to_set].to_set,