diff --git a/swift/common/direct_client.py b/swift/common/direct_client.py
index 3058309b8b..db7c48aa7e 100644
--- a/swift/common/direct_client.py
+++ b/swift/common/direct_client.py
@@ -513,14 +513,8 @@ def retry(func, *args, **kwargs):
     :returns: result of func
     :raises ClientException: all retries failed
     """
-    retries = 5
-    if 'retries' in kwargs:
-        retries = kwargs['retries']
-        del kwargs['retries']
-    error_log = None
-    if 'error_log' in kwargs:
-        error_log = kwargs['error_log']
-        del kwargs['error_log']
+    retries = kwargs.pop('retries', 5)
+    error_log = kwargs.pop('error_log', None)
     attempts = 0
     backoff = 1
     while attempts <= retries:
diff --git a/swift/common/exceptions.py b/swift/common/exceptions.py
index 54b4e2e2ea..2f36ab623d 100644
--- a/swift/common/exceptions.py
+++ b/swift/common/exceptions.py
@@ -214,9 +214,9 @@ class APIVersionError(SwiftException):
 class ClientException(Exception):
 
     def __init__(self, msg, http_scheme='', http_host='', http_port='',
-                 http_path='', http_query='', http_status=0, http_reason='',
+                 http_path='', http_query='', http_status=None, http_reason='',
                  http_device='', http_response_content='', http_headers=None):
-        Exception.__init__(self, msg)
+        super(ClientException, self).__init__(msg)
         self.msg = msg
         self.http_scheme = http_scheme
         self.http_host = http_host