diff --git a/activesupport/CHANGELOG b/activesupport/CHANGELOG
index 163f1c932c..69e9cbfd42 100644
--- a/activesupport/CHANGELOG
+++ b/activesupport/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 *Rails 3.1.0 (unreleased)*
 
+* Add String#inquiry as a convenience method for turning a string into a StringInquirer object [DHH]
+
 * Add Object#in? to test if an object is included in another object [Prem Sichanugrist, Brian Morearty, John Reitano]
 
 * LocalCache strategy is now a real middleware class, not an anonymous class
diff --git a/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/string.rb b/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/string.rb
index 8fb8c31ade..72522d395c 100644
--- a/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/string.rb
+++ b/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/string.rb
@@ -11,3 +11,4 @@ require 'active_support/core_ext/string/output_safety'
 require 'active_support/core_ext/string/exclude'
 require 'active_support/core_ext/string/encoding'
 require 'active_support/core_ext/string/strip'
+require 'active_support/core_ext/string/inquiry'
diff --git a/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/string/inquiry.rb b/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/string/inquiry.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..604f3bf4dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/string/inquiry.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+require 'active_support/string_inquirer'
+
+class String
+  # Wraps the current string in the ActiveSupport::StringInquirer class,
+  # which gives you a prettier way to test for equality. Example:
+  #
+  #   env = "production".inquiry
+  #   env.production?  # => true
+  #   env.development? # => false
+  def inquiry
+    ActiveSupport::StringInquirer.new(self)
+  end
+end
diff --git a/activesupport/test/core_ext/string_ext_test.rb b/activesupport/test/core_ext/string_ext_test.rb
index bb865cae91..f0c289a418 100644
--- a/activesupport/test/core_ext/string_ext_test.rb
+++ b/activesupport/test/core_ext/string_ext_test.rb
@@ -250,6 +250,11 @@ class StringInflectionsTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     # And changes the original string:
     assert_equal original, expected
   end
+  
+  def test_string_inquiry
+    assert "production".inquiry.production?
+    assert !"production".inquiry.development?
+  end
 
   def test_truncate
     assert_equal "Hello World!", "Hello World!".truncate(12)