diff --git a/src/axes.jl b/src/axes.jl
index 8722d539..54fe0c6d 100644
--- a/src/axes.jl
+++ b/src/axes.jl
@@ -260,8 +260,8 @@ end
 
 
 function expand_extrema!(ex::Extrema, v::Number)
-    ex.emin = min(v, ex.emin)
-    ex.emax = max(v, ex.emax)
+    ex.emin = _min(v, ex.emin)
+    ex.emax = _max(v, ex.emax)
     ex
 end
 
@@ -276,8 +276,8 @@ expand_extrema!(axis::Axis, ::Bool) = axis[:extrema]
 
 function expand_extrema!{MIN<:Number,MAX<:Number}(axis::Axis, v::Tuple{MIN,MAX})
     ex = axis[:extrema]
-    ex.emin = min(v[1], ex.emin)
-    ex.emax = max(v[2], ex.emax)
+    ex.emin = _min(v[1], ex.emin)
+    ex.emax = _max(v[2], ex.emax)
     ex
 end
 function expand_extrema!{N<:Number}(axis::Axis, v::AVec{N})
@@ -368,8 +368,8 @@ end
 # push the limits out slightly
 function widen(lmin, lmax)
     span = lmax - lmin
-    # eps = max(1e-16, min(1e-2span, 1e-10))
-    eps = max(1e-16, 0.03span)
+    # eps = _max(1e-16, min(1e-2span, 1e-10))
+    eps = _max(1e-16, 0.03span)
     lmin-eps, lmax+eps
 end
 
@@ -425,7 +425,7 @@ function discrete_value!(axis::Axis, dv)
     # @show axis[:discrete_map], axis[:discrete_values], dv
     if cv_idx == -1
         ex = axis[:extrema]
-        cv = max(0.5, ex.emax + 1.0)
+        cv = _max(0.5, ex.emax + 1.0)
         expand_extrema!(axis, cv)
         push!(axis[:discrete_values], dv)
         push!(axis[:continuous_values], cv)
diff --git a/src/backends/glvisualize.jl b/src/backends/glvisualize.jl
index 329f4070..6feba2e3 100644
--- a/src/backends/glvisualize.jl
+++ b/src/backends/glvisualize.jl
@@ -367,14 +367,14 @@ end
 
 
 dist(a, b) = abs(a-b)
-mindist(x, a, b) = min(dist(a, x), dist(b, x))
+mindist(x, a, b) = _min(dist(a, x), dist(b, x))
 
 function gappy(x, ps)
     n = length(ps)
     x <= first(ps) && return first(ps) - x
     for j=1:(n-1)
         p0 = ps[j]
-        p1 = ps[min(j+1, n)]
+        p1 = ps[_min(j+1, n)]
         if p0 <= x && p1 >= x
             return mindist(x, p0, p1) * (isodd(j) ? 1 : -1)
         end
diff --git a/src/backends/gr.jl b/src/backends/gr.jl
index 6f78fe7b..3016808c 100644
--- a/src/backends/gr.jl
+++ b/src/backends/gr.jl
@@ -341,7 +341,7 @@ end
 function gr_set_line(lw, style, c) #, a)
     GR.setlinetype(gr_linetype[style])
     w, h = gr_plot_size
-    GR.setlinewidth(max(0, lw / ((w + h) * 0.001)))
+    GR.setlinewidth(_max(0, lw / ((w + h) * 0.001)))
     gr_set_linecolor(c) #, a)
 end
 
@@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ function gr_viewport_from_bbox(sp::Subplot{GRBackend}, bb::BoundingBox, w, h, vi
     viewport[4] = viewport_canvas[4] * (1.0 - top(bb) / h)
     if is3d(sp)
         vp = viewport[:]
-        extent = min(vp[2] - vp[1], vp[4] - vp[3])
+        extent = _min(vp[2] - vp[1], vp[4] - vp[3])
         viewport[1] = 0.5 * (vp[1] + vp[2] - extent)
         viewport[2] = 0.5 * (vp[1] + vp[2] + extent)
         viewport[3] = 0.5 * (vp[3] + vp[4] - extent)
@@ -428,7 +428,7 @@ function gr_set_viewport_polar()
     ymax -= 0.05 * (xmax - xmin)
     xcenter = 0.5 * (xmin + xmax)
     ycenter = 0.5 * (ymin + ymax)
-    r = 0.5 * min(xmax - xmin, ymax - ymin)
+    r = 0.5 * _min(xmax - xmin, ymax - ymin)
     GR.setviewport(xcenter -r, xcenter + r, ycenter - r, ycenter + r)
     GR.setwindow(-1, 1, -1, 1)
     r
diff --git a/src/backends/inspectdr.jl b/src/backends/inspectdr.jl
index c58ef884..85dd9c11 100644
--- a/src/backends/inspectdr.jl
+++ b/src/backends/inspectdr.jl
@@ -349,7 +349,7 @@ function _inspectdr_setupsubplot(sp::Subplot{InspectDRBackend})
         ymin, ymax  = axis_limits(yaxis)
         if ispolar(sp)
             #Plots.jl appears to give (xmin,xmax) ≜ (Θmin,Θmax) & (ymin,ymax) ≜ (rmin,rmax)
-            rmax = max(abs(ymin), abs(ymax))
+            rmax = _max(abs(ymin), abs(ymax))
             xmin, xmax = -rmax, rmax
             ymin, ymax = -rmax, rmax
         end
diff --git a/src/backends/pyplot.jl b/src/backends/pyplot.jl
index 579c1401..8bacb99e 100644
--- a/src/backends/pyplot.jl
+++ b/src/backends/pyplot.jl
@@ -926,14 +926,14 @@ function py_compute_axis_minval(axis::Axis)
         for series in series_list(sp)
             v = series.d[axis[:letter]]
             if !isempty(v)
-                minval = min(minval, _minimum(abs(v)))
+                minval = _min(minval, _minimum(abs(v)))
             end
         end
     end
 
     # now if the axis limits go to a smaller abs value, use that instead
     vmin, vmax = axis_limits(axis)
-    minval = min(minval, abs(vmin), abs(vmax))
+    minval = _min(minval, abs(vmin), abs(vmax))
 
     minval
 end
@@ -954,7 +954,7 @@ function py_set_scale(ax, axis::Axis)
         elseif scale == :log10
             10
         end
-        kw[Symbol(:linthresh,letter)] = max(1e-16, py_compute_axis_minval(axis))
+        kw[Symbol(:linthresh,letter)] = _max(1e-16, py_compute_axis_minval(axis))
         "symlog"
     end
     func(arg; kw...)
@@ -1096,10 +1096,10 @@ function _update_min_padding!(sp::Subplot{PyPlotBackend})
     bottompad = 0mm
     for bb in (py_bbox_axis(ax, "x"), py_bbox_axis(ax, "y"), py_bbox_title(ax))
         if ispositive(width(bb)) && ispositive(height(bb))
-            leftpad   = max(leftpad,   left(plotbb) - left(bb))
-            toppad    = max(toppad,    top(plotbb)  - top(bb))
-            rightpad  = max(rightpad,  right(bb)    - right(plotbb))
-            bottompad = max(bottompad, bottom(bb)   - bottom(plotbb))
+            leftpad   = _max(leftpad,   left(plotbb) - left(bb))
+            toppad    = _max(toppad,    top(plotbb)  - top(bb))
+            rightpad  = _max(rightpad,  right(bb)    - right(plotbb))
+            bottompad = _max(bottompad, bottom(bb)   - bottom(plotbb))
         end
     end
 
diff --git a/src/layouts.jl b/src/layouts.jl
index 9b123839..afd4e851 100644
--- a/src/layouts.jl
+++ b/src/layouts.jl
@@ -55,10 +55,10 @@ function Base.:+(bb1::BoundingBox, bb2::BoundingBox)
     ispositive(width(bb2))  || return bb1
     ispositive(height(bb2)) || return bb1
 
-    l = min(left(bb1), left(bb2))
-    t = min(top(bb1), top(bb2))
-    r = max(right(bb1), right(bb2))
-    b = max(bottom(bb1), bottom(bb2))
+    l = _min(left(bb1), left(bb2))
+    t = _min(top(bb1), top(bb2))
+    r = _max(right(bb1), right(bb2))
+    b = _max(bottom(bb1), bottom(bb2))
     BoundingBox(l, t, r-l, b-t)
 end
 
diff --git a/src/recipes.jl b/src/recipes.jl
index c268f6c7..82473795 100644
--- a/src/recipes.jl
+++ b/src/recipes.jl
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ end
         fr = if yaxis[:scale] == :identity
             0.0
         else
-            min(axis_limits(yaxis)[1], _minimum(y))
+            _min(axis_limits(yaxis)[1], _minimum(y))
         end
     end
     newx, newy = zeros(3n), zeros(3n)
@@ -548,7 +548,7 @@ Plots.@deps stepbins path
 
 
 function _auto_binning_nbins{N}(vs::NTuple{N,AbstractVector}, dim::Integer; mode::Symbol = :auto)
-    _cl(x) = max(ceil(Int, x), 1)
+    _cl(x) = _max(ceil(Int, x), 1)
     _iqr(v) = quantile(v, 0.75) - quantile(v, 0.25)
     _span(v) = _maximum(v) - _minimum(v)
 
diff --git a/src/utils.jl b/src/utils.jl
index ac5a783d..802b28e5 100644
--- a/src/utils.jl
+++ b/src/utils.jl
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ function binData(data, nbins)
   lo, hi = _extrema(data)
   edges = collect(linspace(lo, hi, nbins+1))
   midpoints = calcMidpoints(edges)
-  buckets = Int[max(2, min(searchsortedfirst(edges, x), length(edges)))-1 for x in data]
+  buckets = Int[_max(2, _min(searchsortedfirst(edges, x), length(edges)))-1 for x in data]
   counts = zeros(Int, length(midpoints))
   for b in buckets
     counts[b] += 1
@@ -284,8 +284,8 @@ unzip{T}(xyuv::FixedSizeArrays.Vec{4,T})       = T[xyuv[1]], T[xyuv[2]], T[xyuv[
 function _expand_limits(lims, x)
   try
     e1, e2 = _extrema(x)
-    lims[1] = min(lims[1], e1)
-    lims[2] = max(lims[2], e2)
+    lims[1] = _min(lims[1], e1)
+    lims[2] = _max(lims[2], e2)
   # catch err
   #   warn(err)
   end
@@ -343,7 +343,7 @@ end
 function calc_r_extrema(x, y)
     xmin, xmax = _extrema(x)
     ymin, ymax = _extrema(y)
-    r = 0.5 * min(xmax - xmin, ymax - ymin)
+    r = 0.5 * _min(xmax - xmin, ymax - ymin)
     _extrema(r)
 end