diff --git a/django/core/handlers/wsgi.py b/django/core/handlers/wsgi.py
index 7c94758e86..3f69bfaaae 100644
--- a/django/core/handlers/wsgi.py
+++ b/django/core/handlers/wsgi.py
@@ -16,9 +16,6 @@ from django.utils.encoding import force_str, force_text
 from django.utils.functional import cached_property
 from django.utils import six
 
-# For backwards compatibility -- lots of code uses this in the wild!
-from django.http.response import REASON_PHRASES as STATUS_CODE_TEXT  # NOQA
-
 logger = logging.getLogger('django.request')
 
 # encode() and decode() expect the charset to be a native string.
diff --git a/django/http/response.py b/django/http/response.py
index 560e2ac7a5..50c7a0e04a 100644
--- a/django/http/response.py
+++ b/django/http/response.py
@@ -17,73 +17,10 @@ from django.utils import six, timezone
 from django.utils.encoding import force_bytes, force_text, force_str, iri_to_uri
 from django.utils.http import cookie_date
 from django.utils.six.moves import map
+from django.utils.six.moves.http_client import responses
 from django.utils.six.moves.urllib.parse import urlparse
 
 
-# See http://www.iana.org/assignments/http-status-codes
-REASON_PHRASES = {
-    100: 'CONTINUE',
-    101: 'SWITCHING PROTOCOLS',
-    102: 'PROCESSING',
-    200: 'OK',
-    201: 'CREATED',
-    202: 'ACCEPTED',
-    203: 'NON-AUTHORITATIVE INFORMATION',
-    204: 'NO CONTENT',
-    205: 'RESET CONTENT',
-    206: 'PARTIAL CONTENT',
-    207: 'MULTI-STATUS',
-    208: 'ALREADY REPORTED',
-    226: 'IM USED',
-    300: 'MULTIPLE CHOICES',
-    301: 'MOVED PERMANENTLY',
-    302: 'FOUND',
-    303: 'SEE OTHER',
-    304: 'NOT MODIFIED',
-    305: 'USE PROXY',
-    306: 'RESERVED',
-    307: 'TEMPORARY REDIRECT',
-    308: 'PERMANENT REDIRECT',
-    400: 'BAD REQUEST',
-    401: 'UNAUTHORIZED',
-    402: 'PAYMENT REQUIRED',
-    403: 'FORBIDDEN',
-    404: 'NOT FOUND',
-    405: 'METHOD NOT ALLOWED',
-    406: 'NOT ACCEPTABLE',
-    407: 'PROXY AUTHENTICATION REQUIRED',
-    408: 'REQUEST TIMEOUT',
-    409: 'CONFLICT',
-    410: 'GONE',
-    411: 'LENGTH REQUIRED',
-    412: 'PRECONDITION FAILED',
-    413: 'REQUEST ENTITY TOO LARGE',
-    414: 'REQUEST-URI TOO LONG',
-    415: 'UNSUPPORTED MEDIA TYPE',
-    416: 'REQUESTED RANGE NOT SATISFIABLE',
-    417: 'EXPECTATION FAILED',
-    418: "I'M A TEAPOT",
-    422: 'UNPROCESSABLE ENTITY',
-    423: 'LOCKED',
-    424: 'FAILED DEPENDENCY',
-    426: 'UPGRADE REQUIRED',
-    428: 'PRECONDITION REQUIRED',
-    429: 'TOO MANY REQUESTS',
-    431: 'REQUEST HEADER FIELDS TOO LARGE',
-    500: 'INTERNAL SERVER ERROR',
-    501: 'NOT IMPLEMENTED',
-    502: 'BAD GATEWAY',
-    503: 'SERVICE UNAVAILABLE',
-    504: 'GATEWAY TIMEOUT',
-    505: 'HTTP VERSION NOT SUPPORTED',
-    506: 'VARIANT ALSO NEGOTIATES',
-    507: 'INSUFFICIENT STORAGE',
-    508: 'LOOP DETECTED',
-    510: 'NOT EXTENDED',
-    511: 'NETWORK AUTHENTICATION REQUIRED',
-}
-
-
 _charset_from_content_type_re = re.compile(r';\s*charset=(?P<charset>[^\s;]+)', re.I)
 
 
@@ -118,8 +55,7 @@ class HttpResponseBase(six.Iterator):
         if reason is not None:
             self.reason_phrase = reason
         elif self.reason_phrase is None:
-            self.reason_phrase = REASON_PHRASES.get(self.status_code,
-                                                    'UNKNOWN STATUS CODE')
+            self.reason_phrase = responses.get(self.status_code, 'Unknown Status Code')
         self._charset = charset
         if content_type is None:
             content_type = '%s; charset=%s' % (settings.DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE,
diff --git a/docs/ref/request-response.txt b/docs/ref/request-response.txt
index 41e6d3dcdc..ffe2bf4cd3 100644
--- a/docs/ref/request-response.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/request-response.txt
@@ -629,6 +629,13 @@ Attributes
 
     The HTTP reason phrase for the response.
 
+    .. versionchanged:: 1.9
+
+        ``reason_phrase`` no longer defaults to all capital letters. It now
+        uses the `HTTP standard's`_ default reason phrases.
+
+        .. _`HTTP standard's`: https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2616.txt
+
 .. attribute:: HttpResponse.streaming
 
     This is always ``False``.
@@ -980,6 +987,13 @@ Attributes
 
     The HTTP reason phrase for the response.
 
+    .. versionchanged:: 1.9
+
+        ``reason_phrase`` no longer defaults to all capital letters. It now
+        uses the `HTTP standard's`_ default reason phrases.
+
+        .. _`HTTP standard's`: https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2616.txt
+
 .. attribute:: StreamingHttpResponse.streaming
 
     This is always ``True``.
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.9.txt b/docs/releases/1.9.txt
index e15c1d9b60..e51d3b0afe 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.9.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.9.txt
@@ -171,6 +171,13 @@ Miscellaneous
 * CSS and images in ``contrib.admin`` to support Internet Explorer 6 & 7 have
   been removed as these browsers have reached end-of-life.
 
+* ``django.http.responses.REASON_PHRASES`` and
+  ``django.core.handlers.wsgi.STATUS_CODE_TEXT`` have been removed. Use
+  Python's stdlib instead: :data:`http.client.responses` for Python 3 and
+  `httplib.responses`_ for Python 2.
+
+  .. _`httplib.responses`: https://docs.python.org/2/library/httplib.html#httplib.responses
+
 .. _deprecated-features-1.9:
 
 Features deprecated in 1.9
diff --git a/tests/responses/tests.py b/tests/responses/tests.py
index 892c09b857..bf7a0e12ef 100644
--- a/tests/responses/tests.py
+++ b/tests/responses/tests.py
@@ -50,9 +50,9 @@ class HttpResponseBaseTests(SimpleTestCase):
 
 class HttpResponseTests(SimpleTestCase):
     def test_status_code(self):
-        resp = HttpResponse(status=418)
-        self.assertEqual(resp.status_code, 418)
-        self.assertEqual(resp.reason_phrase, "I'M A TEAPOT")
+        resp = HttpResponse(status=503)
+        self.assertEqual(resp.status_code, 503)
+        self.assertEqual(resp.reason_phrase, "Service Unavailable")
 
     def test_reason_phrase(self):
         reason = "I'm an anarchist coffee pot on crack."