diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/relation/query_methods.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/relation/query_methods.rb
index 1654ae1eac..3a7b245c51 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/relation/query_methods.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/relation/query_methods.rb
@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ module ActiveRecord
         when String, Symbol
           o.to_s.split(',').collect do |s|
             s.strip!
-            s.gsub!(/\sasc\Z/i, ' DESC') || s.gsub!(/\sdesc\Z/i, ' ASC') || s.concat(' DESC')
+            (s if s =~ /\(/) || s.gsub!(/\sasc\Z/i, ' DESC') || s.gsub!(/\sdesc\Z/i, ' ASC') || s.concat(' DESC')
           end
         else
           o
diff --git a/activerecord/test/cases/relations_test.rb b/activerecord/test/cases/relations_test.rb
index 821da91f0a..8a2cf0ef85 100644
--- a/activerecord/test/cases/relations_test.rb
+++ b/activerecord/test/cases/relations_test.rb
@@ -911,6 +911,11 @@ class RelationTest < ActiveRecord::TestCase
     assert_equal 'zyke', FastCar.order_using_old_style.limit(1).first.name
   end
 
+  def test_order_with_function_and_last
+    authors = Author.scoped
+    assert_equal authors(:bob), authors.order( "id asc, MAX( organization_id, owned_essay_id)" ).last
+  end
+  
   def test_order_using_scoping
     car1 = CoolCar.order('id DESC').scoping do
       CoolCar.find(:first, :order => 'id asc')