Index: wp-includes/comment-template.php
===================================================================
--- wp-includes/comment-template.php	(revision 11568)
+++ wp-includes/comment-template.php	(working copy)
@@ -542,9 +542,24 @@
  * @param string $zero Text for no comments
  * @param string $one Text for one comment
  * @param string $more Text for more than one comment
- * @param string $deprecated Not used.
  */
-function comments_number( $zero = false, $one = false, $more = false, $deprecated = '' ) {
+function comments_number() {
+	$args = func_get_args();
+	echo call_user_func_array( 'get_comments_number_text', $args );
+}
+
+/**
+ * Return the language string for the number of comments the current post has.
+ *
+ * @since 2.9
+ * @uses $id
+ * @uses apply_filters() Calls the 'comments_number' hook on the output and number of comments respectively.
+ *
+ * @param string $zero Text for no comments
+ * @param string $one Text for one comment
+ * @param string $more Text for more than one comment
+ */
+function get_comments_number_text( $zero = false, $one = false, $more = false ) {
 	global $id;
 	$number = get_comments_number($id);
 
@@ -555,7 +570,7 @@
 	else // must be one
 		$output = ( false === $one ) ? __('1 Comment') : $one;
 
-	echo apply_filters('comments_number', $output, $number);
+	return apply_filters('comments_number', $output, $number);
 }
 
 /**