diff --git a/sp-api/sp-api-class-spcdatetime.php b/sp-api/sp-api-class-spcdatetime.php
index 3f06e27..c0b32a3 100644
--- a/sp-api/sp-api-class-spcdatetime.php
+++ b/sp-api/sp-api-class-spcdatetime.php
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ public function nice_date($postdate) {
         } else {
             $format   = SP()->primitives->front_text('%d %s ago');
             $nicedate = sprintf($format, $difference, $periods[$j]);
-            $nicedate = apply_filters('sph_nicedate', $nicedate, $difference, $periods[$j], $tense);
+            $nicedate = apply_filters('sph_nicedate', $nicedate, $difference, $periods[$j], $format);
         }
 
 		return $nicedate;
diff --git a/sp-api/sp-api-class-spcdb.php b/sp-api/sp-api-class-spcdb.php
index 5b039f5..2f01248 100644
--- a/sp-api/sp-api-class-spcdb.php
+++ b/sp-api/sp-api-class-spcdb.php
@@ -514,8 +514,17 @@ public function truncate($table) {
 	 */
 	public function connectionExists() {
 		global $wpdb;
-		$connection = (is_object($wpdb)) ? $wpdb->check_connection(false) : false;
-		return $connection;
+		if(empty($wpdb->dbh)) return false;
+		if ($wpdb->dbh instanceof mysqli) return mysqli_ping($wpdb->dbh);
+		if ($wpdb->dbh instanceof PDO) {
+			try {
+				$wpdb->dbh->query('SELECT 1');
+				return true;
+			} catch (PDOException $e) {
+				return false;
+			}
+		}
+		return true;
 	}
 
 	#