diff --git a/js/jquery.mobile.core.js b/js/jquery.mobile.core.js
index 7d0691f0..790cda6c 100644
--- a/js/jquery.mobile.core.js
+++ b/js/jquery.mobile.core.js
@@ -157,22 +157,22 @@
 			// specified default.
 
 			return ltr || defaultTheme || "a";
+		},
+
+		// TODO the following $ and $.fn extensions can/probably should be moved into jquery.mobile.core.helpers
+		//
+		// Find the closest javascript page element to gather settings data jsperf test
+		// http://jsperf.com/single-complex-selector-vs-many-complex-selectors/edit
+		// possibly naive, but it shows that the parsing overhead for *just* the page selector vs
+		// the page and dialog selector is negligable. This could probably be speed up by
+		// doing a similar parent node traversal to the one found in the inherited theme code above
+		closestPageData: function( $target ) {
+			return $target
+				.closest(':jqmData(role="page"), :jqmData(role="dialog")')
+				.data("page");
 		}
 	});
 
-	// TODO the following $ and $.fn extensions can/probably should be moved into jquery.mobile.core.helpers
-	//
-	// Find the closest javascript page element to gather settings data jsperf test
-	// http://jsperf.com/single-complex-selector-vs-many-complex-selectors/edit
-	// possibly naive, but it shows that the parsing overhead for *just* the page selector vs
-	// the page and dialog selector is negligable. This could probably be speed up by
-	// doing a similar parent node traversal to the one found in the inherited theme code above
-	$.fn.closestPageData = function() {
-		return $(this)
-			.closest(':jqmData(role="page"), :jqmData(role="dialog")')
-			.data("page");
-	};
-
 	// Mobile version of data and removeData and hasData methods
 	// ensures all data is set and retrieved using jQuery Mobile's data namespace
 	$.fn.jqmData = function( prop, value ) {
diff --git a/js/jquery.mobile.degradeInputs.js b/js/jquery.mobile.degradeInputs.js
index 9d747f47..b2a98bd8 100644
--- a/js/jquery.mobile.degradeInputs.js
+++ b/js/jquery.mobile.degradeInputs.js
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ $.mobile.page.prototype.options.degradeInputs = {
 //auto self-init widgets
 $( document ).bind( "pagecreate create", function( e ){
 
-	var page = $(e.target).closestPageData();
+	var page = $.mobile.closestPageData( $(e.target) );
 
 	if( !page ) {
 		return;
diff --git a/js/jquery.mobile.widget.js b/js/jquery.mobile.widget.js
index 46331758..45a69ecf 100644
--- a/js/jquery.mobile.widget.js
+++ b/js/jquery.mobile.widget.js
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ $.widget( "mobile.widget", {
 		// TODO remove dependency on the page widget for the keepNative.
 		// Currently the keepNative value is defined on the page prototype so
 		// the method is as well
-		var page = $(target).closestPageData(),
+		var page = $.mobile.closestPageData( $(target) ),
 			keepNative = (page && page.keepNativeSelector()) || "";
 
 		$( this.options.initSelector, target ).not( keepNative )[ this.widgetName ]();
diff --git a/tests/unit/core/core.js b/tests/unit/core/core.js
index 11ce68d5..defcad35 100644
--- a/tests/unit/core/core.js
+++ b/tests/unit/core/core.js
@@ -150,13 +150,13 @@
 		var pageChild = $( "#page-child" );
 
 		$( "#parent-page" ).data( "page", { foo: "bar" } );
-		same( pageChild.closestPageData().foo, "bar" );
+		same( $.mobile.closestPageData( pageChild ).foo, "bar" );
 	});
 
 	test( "closestPageData returns the parent dialog's page data", function() {
 		var dialogChild = $( "#dialog-child" );
 
 		$( "#parent-dialog" ).data( "page", { foo: "bar" } );
-		same( dialogChild.closestPageData().foo, "bar" );
+		same( $.mobile.closestPageData(dialogChild).foo, "bar" );
 	});
 })(jQuery);
\ No newline at end of file