diff --git a/src/args.jl b/src/args.jl
index f5a8887a..a3bec516 100644
--- a/src/args.jl
+++ b/src/args.jl
@@ -993,15 +993,6 @@ function RecipesPipeline.preprocess_attributes!(plotattributes::AKW)
         end
     end
 
-    # vline accesses the y argument but actually maps it to the x axis.
-    # Hence, we have to swap formatters
-    if get(plotattributes, :seriestype, :path) == :vline
-        xformatter = get(plotattributes, :xformatter, :auto)
-        yformatter = get(plotattributes, :yformatter, :auto)
-        plotattributes[:xformatter] = yformatter
-        plotattributes[:yformatter] = xformatter
-    end
-
     # handle grid args common to all axes
     args = RecipesPipeline.pop_kw!(plotattributes, :grid, ())
     for arg in wraptuple(args)
@@ -1145,7 +1136,6 @@ function RecipesPipeline.preprocess_attributes!(plotattributes::AKW)
     if st in (:boxplot, :violin, :density) && !isdefined(Main, :StatsPlots)
         @warn("seriestype $st has been moved to StatsPlots.  To use: \`Pkg.add(\"StatsPlots\"); using StatsPlots\`")
     end
-
     return
 end
 
diff --git a/src/plot.jl b/src/plot.jl
index e52ac499..9953acc7 100644
--- a/src/plot.jl
+++ b/src/plot.jl
@@ -164,6 +164,15 @@ end
 # a list of series KW dicts.
 # note: at entry, we only have those preprocessed args which were passed in... no default values yet
 function _plot!(plt::Plot, plotattributes, args)
+    # swap x and y for seriestypes that are x only
+    if get(plotattributes, :seriestype, :path) in
+       (:vline, :vspan, :histogram, :barhist, :stephist, :scatterhist)
+        if get(plotattributes, :orientation, :vertical) == :vertical
+            @assert length(args) == 1
+            args = (args[1], [])
+        end
+    end
+
     RecipesPipeline.recipe_pipeline!(plt, plotattributes, args)
     current(plt)
     _do_plot_show(plt, plt[:show])
diff --git a/src/recipes.jl b/src/recipes.jl
index 468acf0d..9e2adfec 100644
--- a/src/recipes.jl
+++ b/src/recipes.jl
@@ -122,9 +122,10 @@ end
 @deps hline straightline
 
 @recipe function f(::Type{Val{:vline}}, x, y, z)
+    n = length(x)
     newx = vec(Float64[xi for i = 1:3, xi in x])
     x := newx
-    y := y
+    y := repeat(Float64[1, 2, NaN], n)
     seriestype := :straightline
     ()
 end
diff --git a/src/shorthands.jl b/src/shorthands.jl
index 59275610..89ac4e80 100644
--- a/src/shorthands.jl
+++ b/src/shorthands.jl
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ Plot a histogram.
 julia> histogram([1,2,1,1,4,3,8],bins=0:8)
 ```
 """
-@one_arg_shorthands histogram
+@shorthands histogram
 
 """
     barhist(x)
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ julia> histogram([1,2,1,1,4,3,8],bins=0:8)
 
 Make a histogram bar plot. See `histogram`.
 """
-@one_arg_shorthands barhist
+@shorthands barhist
 
 """
     stephist(x)
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ Make a histogram bar plot. See `histogram`.
 Make a histogram step plot (bin counts are represented using horizontal lines
 instead of bars). See `histogram`.
 """
-@one_arg_shorthands stephist
+@shorthands stephist
 
 """
     scatterhist(x)
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ instead of bars). See `histogram`.
 Make a histogram scatter plot (bin counts are represented using points
 instead of bars). See `histogram`.
 """
-@one_arg_shorthands scatterhist
+@shorthands scatterhist
 
 """
     histogram2d(x,y)
@@ -190,9 +190,6 @@ julia> vline([-1,0,2])
 ```
 """
 @shorthands vline
-vline(x; kw...) = plot(x, repeat(Float64[1,2,NaN], length(x)); kw..., seriestype=:vline)
-vline!(x; kw...) = plot!(x, repeat(Float64[1,2,NaN], length(x)); kw..., seriestype=:vline)
-vline!(plt, x; kw...) = plot!(plt, x, repeat(Float64[1,2,NaN], length(x)); kw..., seriestype=:vline)
 
 """
     hspan(y)
@@ -223,9 +220,6 @@ julia> vspan(1:6)
 ```
 """
 @shorthands vspan
-vspan(x; kw...) = plot(x, []; kw..., seriestype=:vspan)
-vspan!(x; kw...) = plot!(x, []; kw..., seriestype=:vspan)
-vspan!(plt, x; kw...) = plot!(plt, x, []; kw..., seriestype=:vspan)
 
 """
     ohlc(x,y::Vector{OHLC})
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index 13ae2868..5190f709 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ using Dates
 using RecipesBase
 
 include("test_axes.jl")
-include("axis_letter.jl")
+include("test_axis_letter.jl")
 include("test_recipes.jl")
 include("test_hdf5plots.jl")
 include("test_pgfplotsx.jl")
diff --git a/test/axis_letter.jl b/test/test_axis_letter.jl
similarity index 100%
rename from test/axis_letter.jl
rename to test/test_axis_letter.jl