diff --git a/src/manipulation.js b/src/manipulation.js
index 91502b572..7a1cc3b17 100644
--- a/src/manipulation.js
+++ b/src/manipulation.js
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ var nodeNames = "abbr|article|aside|audio|bdi|canvas|data|datalist|details|figca
 	rtagName = /<([\w:]+)/,
 	rtbody = /<tbody/i,
 	rhtml = /<|&#?\w+;/,
-	rnoInnerhtml = /<(?:script|style)/i,
+	rnoInnerhtml = /<(?:script|style|link)/i,
 	rnocache = /<(?:script|object|embed|option|style)/i,
 	rnoshimcache = new RegExp("<(?:" + nodeNames + ")[\\s/>]", "i"),
 	rcheckableType = /^(?:checkbox|radio)$/,
@@ -46,9 +46,10 @@ wrapMap.optgroup = wrapMap.option;
 wrapMap.tbody = wrapMap.tfoot = wrapMap.colgroup = wrapMap.caption = wrapMap.thead;
 wrapMap.th = wrapMap.td;
 
-// IE can't serialize <link> and <script> tags normally
+// IE6-8 can't serialize link, script, style, or any html5 (NoScope) tags, 
+// unless wrapped in a div with non-breaking characters in front of it.
 if ( !jQuery.support.htmlSerialize ) {
-	wrapMap._default = [ 1, "div<div>", "</div>" ];
+	wrapMap._default = [ 1, "X<div>", "</div>" ];
 }
 
 jQuery.fn.extend({
@@ -220,8 +221,9 @@ jQuery.fn.extend({
 					null;
 			}
 
-
-			if ( typeof value === "string" && !rnoInnerhtml.test( value ) &&
+			// See if we can take a shortcut and just use innerHTML
+			if ( typeof value === "string" && !rnoInnerhtml.test( value ) && 
+				( jQuery.support.htmlSerialize || !rnoshimcache.test( value )  ) &&
 				( jQuery.support.leadingWhitespace || !rleadingWhitespace.test( value ) ) &&
 				!wrapMap[ ( rtagName.exec( value ) || ["", ""] )[1].toLowerCase() ] ) {
 
diff --git a/test/unit/manipulation.js b/test/unit/manipulation.js
index ff31c4db4..8b891f7b5 100644
--- a/test/unit/manipulation.js
+++ b/test/unit/manipulation.js
@@ -555,6 +555,19 @@ test("html(String) with HTML5 (Bug #6485)", function() {
 	equal( jQuery("#qunit-fixture").children().children().children().length, 1, "Make sure nested HTML5 elements can hold children." );
 });
 
+
+
+test("IE8 serialization bug", function () {
+	expect(2);
+	var wrapper = jQuery("<div></div>");
+
+	wrapper.html("<div></div><article></article>");
+	equal( wrapper.children("article").length, 1, "HTML5 elements are insertable with .html()");
+	
+	wrapper.html("<div></div><link></link>");
+	equal( wrapper.children("link").length, 1, "Link elements are insertable with .html()");
+});
+
 test("append(xml)", function() {
 	expect( 1 );