diff --git a/lib/extract.js b/lib/extract.js
index cae964a..081f657 100644
--- a/lib/extract.js
+++ b/lib/extract.js
@@ -345,8 +345,8 @@ var Extractor = (function () {
 
                     if (possibleAttributes.indexOf(attr) > -1) {
                         var attrValue = extracted[attr];
-                        str = node.html(); // this shouldn't be necessary, but it is
-                        self.addString(reference(n.startIndex), str || getAttr(attr) || '', attrValue.plural, attrValue.extractedComment, attrValue.context);
+                        str = getAttr(attr);
+                        self.addString(reference(n.startIndex), str || node.html() || '', attrValue.plural, attrValue.extractedComment, attrValue.context);
                     } else if (matches = noDelimRegex.exec(node.attr(attr))) {
                         str = matches[2].replace(/\\\'/g, '\'');
                         self.addString(reference(n.startIndex), str);