diff --git a/src/recipes.jl b/src/recipes.jl
index 331c5100..91bd721b 100644
--- a/src/recipes.jl
+++ b/src/recipes.jl
@@ -122,8 +122,8 @@ end
 @deps hline straightline
 
 @recipe function f(::Type{Val{:vline}}, x, y, z)
-    n = length(y)
-    newx = vec(Float64[yi for i = 1:3, yi in y])
+    n = length(x)
+    newx = vec(Float64[xi for i = 1:3, xi in x])
     newy = repeat(Float64[1, 2, NaN], n)
     x := newx
     y := newy
@@ -765,7 +765,7 @@ end
 
 @recipe function f(::Type{Val{:barhist}}, x, y, z)
     h = _make_hist(
-        (y,),
+        (x,),
         plotattributes[:bins],
         normed = plotattributes[:normalize],
         weights = plotattributes[:weights],
@@ -779,7 +779,7 @@ end
 
 @recipe function f(::Type{Val{:stephist}}, x, y, z)
     h = _make_hist(
-        (y,),
+        (x,),
         plotattributes[:bins],
         normed = plotattributes[:normalize],
         weights = plotattributes[:weights],
diff --git a/src/shorthands.jl b/src/shorthands.jl
index 7b9584c9..0311e5d3 100644
--- a/src/shorthands.jl
+++ b/src/shorthands.jl
@@ -58,6 +58,9 @@ julia> histogram([1,2,1,1,4,3,8],bins=0:8)
 ```
 """
 @shorthands histogram
+histogram(x; kw...) = plot(x, []; kw..., seriestype=:histogram)
+histogram!(x; kw...) = plot!(x, []; kw..., seriestype=:histogram)
+histogram!(plt, x; kw...) = plot!(plt, x, []; kw..., seriestype=:histogram)
 
 """
     barhist(x)
@@ -66,15 +69,21 @@ julia> histogram([1,2,1,1,4,3,8],bins=0:8)
 Make a histogram bar plot. See `histogram`.
 """
 @shorthands barhist
+barhist(x; kw...) = plot(x, []; kw..., seriestype=:barhist)
+barhist!(x; kw...) = plot!(x, []; kw..., seriestype=:barhist)
+barhist!(plt, x; kw...) = plot!(plt, x, []; kw..., seriestype=:barhist)
 
 """
     stephist(x)
-    stephist(x)
+    stephist!(x)
 
 Make a histogram step plot (bin counts are represented using horizontal lines
 instead of bars). See `histogram`.
 """
 @shorthands stephist
+stephist(x; kw...) = plot(x, []; kw..., seriestype=:stephist)
+stephist!(x; kw...) = plot!(x, []; kw..., seriestype=:stephist)
+stephist!(plt, x; kw...) = plot!(plt, x, []; kw..., seriestype=:stephist)
 
 """
     scatterhist(x)
@@ -190,6 +199,9 @@ julia> vline([-1,0,2])
 ```
 """
 @shorthands vline
+vline(x; kw...) = plot(x, []; kw..., seriestype=:vline)
+vline!(x; kw...) = plot!(x, []; kw..., seriestype=:vline)
+vline!(plt, x; kw...) = plot!(plt, x, []; kw..., seriestype=:vline)
 
 """
     hspan(y)