diff --git a/basis/vocabs/refresh/monitor/monitor.factor b/basis/vocabs/refresh/monitor/monitor.factor
index 6274921bdb..c9b664dc91 100644
--- a/basis/vocabs/refresh/monitor/monitor.factor
+++ b/basis/vocabs/refresh/monitor/monitor.factor
@@ -1,59 +1,58 @@
-! Copyright (C) 2008, 2009 Slava Pestov.
-! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
-USING: accessors assocs command-line concurrency.messaging
-continuations init io.backend io.files io.monitors io.pathnames
-kernel namespaces sequences sets splitting threads
-tr vocabs vocabs.loader vocabs.refresh vocabs.cache ;
-IN: vocabs.refresh.monitor
-
-TR: convert-separators "/\\" ".." ;
-
-: vocab-dir>vocab-name ( path -- vocab )
-    trim-head-separators
-    trim-tail-separators
-    convert-separators ;
-
-: path>vocab-name ( path -- vocab )
-    dup ".factor" tail? [ parent-directory ] when ;
-
-: chop-vocab-root ( path -- path' )
-    "resource:" prepend-path normalize-path
-    dup vocab-roots get
-    [ normalize-path ] map
-    [ head? ] with find nip
-    ?head drop ;
-
-: path>vocab ( path -- vocab )
-    chop-vocab-root path>vocab-name vocab-dir>vocab-name ;
-
-: monitor-loop ( -- )
-    #! On OS X, monitors give us the full path, so we chop it
-    #! off if its there.
-    receive path>> path>vocab changed-vocab
-    reset-cache
-    monitor-loop ;
-
-: add-monitor-for-path ( path -- )
-    dup exists? [ t my-mailbox (monitor) ] when drop ;
-
-: monitor-thread ( -- )
-    [
-        [
-            vocab-roots get [ add-monitor-for-path ] each
-
-            H{ } clone changed-vocabs set-global
-            vocabs [ changed-vocab ] each
-
-            monitor-loop
-        ] with-monitors
-    ] ignore-errors ;
-
-: start-monitor-thread ( -- )
-    #! Silently ignore errors during monitor creation since
-    #! monitors are not supported on all platforms.
-    [ monitor-thread ] "Vocabulary monitor" spawn drop ;
-
-[
-    "-no-monitors" (command-line) member?
-    [ start-monitor-thread ] unless
-] "vocabs.refresh.monitor" add-startup-hook
+! Copyright (C) 2008, 2010 Slava Pestov.
+! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
+USING: accessors assocs command-line concurrency.messaging
+continuations init io.backend io.files io.monitors io.pathnames
+kernel namespaces sequences sets splitting threads fry
+tr vocabs vocabs.loader vocabs.refresh vocabs.cache ;
+IN: vocabs.refresh.monitor
+
+TR: convert-separators "/\\" ".." ;
+
+: vocab-dir>vocab-name ( path -- vocab )
+    trim-head-separators
+    trim-tail-separators
+    convert-separators ;
+
+: path>vocab-name ( path -- vocab )
+    dup ".factor" tail? [ parent-directory ] when ;
+
+: chop-vocab-root ( path -- path' )
+    "resource:" prepend-path normalize-path
+    dup vocab-roots get
+    [ normalize-path ] map
+    [ head? ] with find nip
+    ?head drop ;
+
+: path>vocab ( path -- vocab )
+    chop-vocab-root path>vocab-name vocab-dir>vocab-name ;
+
+: monitor-loop ( monitor -- )
+    #! On OS X, monitors give us the full path, so we chop it
+    #! off if its there.
+    [ next-change path>> path>vocab changed-vocab reset-cache ]
+    [ monitor-loop ]
+    bi ;
+
+: (start-vocab-monitor) ( vocab-root -- )
+    dup exists?
+    [ [ t <monitor> monitor-loop ] with-monitors ] [ drop ] if ;
+
+: start-vocab-monitor ( vocab-root -- )
+    [ '[ [ _ (start-vocab-monitor) ] ignore-errors ] ]
+    [ "Root monitor: " prepend ]
+    bi spawn drop ;
+
+: init-vocab-monitor ( -- )
+    H{ } clone changed-vocabs set-global
+    vocabs [ changed-vocab ] each ;
+
+[
+    "-no-monitors" (command-line) member? [
+        [ drop ] add-vocab-root-hook set-global
+        f changed-vocabs set-global
+    ] [
+        init-vocab-monitor
+        vocab-roots get [ start-vocab-monitor ] each
+        [ start-vocab-monitor ] add-vocab-root-hook set-global
+    ] if
+] "vocabs.refresh.monitor" add-startup-hook
diff --git a/core/vocabs/loader/loader.factor b/core/vocabs/loader/loader.factor
index 535932fdc7..9c1dcaef18 100644
--- a/core/vocabs/loader/loader.factor
+++ b/core/vocabs/loader/loader.factor
@@ -8,15 +8,22 @@ IN: vocabs.loader
 
 SYMBOL: vocab-roots
 
-V{
-    "resource:core"
-    "resource:basis"
-    "resource:extra"
-    "resource:work"
-} clone vocab-roots set-global
+SYMBOL: add-vocab-root-hook
+
+[
+    V{
+        "resource:core"
+        "resource:basis"
+        "resource:extra"
+        "resource:work"
+    } clone vocab-roots set-global
+
+    [ drop ] add-vocab-root-hook set-global
+] "vocabs.loader" add-startup-hook
 
 : add-vocab-root ( root -- )
-    vocab-roots get adjoin ;
+    [ vocab-roots get adjoin ]
+    [ add-vocab-root-hook get-global call( root -- ) ] bi ;
 
 SYMBOL: root-cache