diff -r c9e9142d82d6 Lib/smtplib.py
--- a/Lib/smtplib.py	Mon Apr 11 08:43:52 2011 +0100
+++ b/Lib/smtplib.py	Tue Apr 12 12:17:14 2011 -0300
@@ -132,24 +132,31 @@
     combination provided.
     """
 
-def quoteaddr(addr):
+def quoteaddr(addr, clean=False):
     """Quote a subset of the email addresses defined by RFC 821.
 
-    Should be able to handle anything email.utils.parseaddr can handle.
+    Should be able to handle anything rfc822.parseaddr can handle.
+
+    The default return format is "<some@email.org>", when clean
+    is True, the format is "some@email.org"
     """
     m = (None, None)
     try:
         m = email.utils.parseaddr(addr)[1]
     except AttributeError:
         pass
+    if clean:
+        fmt = "%s"
+    else:
+        fmt = "<%s>"
     if m == (None, None):  # Indicates parse failure or AttributeError
         # something weird here.. punt -ddm
-        return "<%s>" % addr
+        return fmt % addr
     elif m is None:
         # the sender wants an empty return address
-        return "<>"
+        return fmt % ""
     else:
-        return "<%s>" % m
+        return fmt % m
 
 # Legacy method kept for backward compatibility.
 def quotedata(data):
@@ -526,7 +533,7 @@
 
     def verify(self, address):
         """SMTP 'verify' command -- checks for address validity."""
-        self.putcmd("vrfy", quoteaddr(address))
+        self.putcmd("vrfy", quoteaddr(address, clean=True))
         return self.getreply()
     # a.k.a.
     vrfy = verify
diff -r c9e9142d82d6 Lib/test/test_smtplib.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_smtplib.py	Mon Apr 11 08:43:52 2011 +0100
+++ b/Lib/test/test_smtplib.py	Tue Apr 12 12:17:14 2011 -0300
@@ -583,7 +583,7 @@
 
         u = 'nobody@nowhere.com'
         expected_unknown = (550, ('No such user: %s'
-                                       % smtplib.quoteaddr(u)).encode('ascii'))
+                                       % smtplib.quoteaddr(u, clean=True)).encode('ascii'))
         self.assertEqual(smtp.vrfy(u), expected_unknown)
         smtp.quit()