diff --git a/README.rdoc b/README.rdoc
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/README.rdoc
+++ b/README.rdoc
@@ -48,8 +48,6 @@ It works like this:
   # ... check for individual roles
   >> u.has_role? :author
   => false
-  >> u.is_a? :admin  # has_role? is aliased as is_a?
-  => true
 
   # see the internal bitmask representation (3 = 0b0011)
   >> u.roles_mask
diff --git a/lib/role_model/implementation.rb b/lib/role_model/implementation.rb
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/lib/role_model/implementation.rb
+++ b/lib/role_model/implementation.rb
@@ -16,8 +16,6 @@ module RoleModel
     def has_role?(role)
       roles.include?(role.to_sym)
     end
-    alias is_a? has_role?
-    alias is_an? has_role?
 
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/role_model_spec.rb b/spec/role_model_spec.rb
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/spec/role_model_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/role_model_spec.rb
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ describe RoleModel do
     end
   end
 
-  [:has_role?, :is_a?, :is_an?].each do |check_role_assignment_method|
+  [:has_role?].each do |check_role_assignment_method|
     describe "##{check_role_assignment_method}" do
       subject { model_class.new }
remove is_a? and is_an? aliases for has_role?

these were poor names and caused conflicts