diff --git a/lib/utils.js b/lib/utils.js
index 3792cbafb2..abe773eec8 100644
--- a/lib/utils.js
+++ b/lib/utils.js
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ var indexOf = exports.indexOf = function(arr, obj, start) {
  * @param {Object} val Initial value.
  * @return {*}
  */
-exports.reduce = function(arr, fn, val) {
+var reduce = exports.reduce = function(arr, fn, val) {
   var rval = val;
 
   for (var i = 0, l = arr.length; i < l; i++) {
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ exports.trim = function(str) {
  * @return {Object}
  */
 exports.parseQuery = function(qs) {
-  return exports.reduce(qs.replace('?', '').split('&'), function(obj, pair) {
+  return reduce(qs.replace('?', '').split('&'), function(obj, pair) {
     var i = pair.indexOf('=');
     var key = pair.slice(0, i);
     var val = pair.slice(++i);
@@ -449,9 +449,19 @@ exports.stringify = function(value) {
       .replace(/,(\n|$)/g, '$1');
   }
 
-  for (var prop in value) {
-    if (Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(value, prop)) {
-      return jsonStringify(exports.canonicalize(value, null, typeHint), 2).replace(/,(\n|$)/g, '$1');
+  // IE7/IE8 has a bizarre String constructor; needs to be coerced
+  // into an array and back again.
+  var obj = value;
+  if (typeof value === 'string' && typeHint === 'object') {
+    obj = Array.prototype.slice.apply(value);
+  }
+  for (var prop in obj) {
+    if (Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(obj, prop)) {
+      var result = jsonStringify(exports.canonicalize(obj, null, typeHint), 2).replace(/,(\n|$)/g, '$1');
+      return obj === value ? result : reduce(result, function(acc, char, idx) {
+        acc[idx] = char;
+        return acc;
+      }, {});
     }
   }
 
@@ -750,7 +760,7 @@ exports.stackTraceFilter = function() {
   return function(stack) {
     stack = stack.split('\n');
 
-    stack = exports.reduce(stack, function(list, line) {
+    stack = reduce(stack, function(list, line) {
       if (isMochaInternal(line)) {
         return list;
       }