diff --git a/django/core/handlers/wsgi.py b/django/core/handlers/wsgi.py
index e9b9f9c1ff..00a9a2ca53 100644
--- a/django/core/handlers/wsgi.py
+++ b/django/core/handlers/wsgi.py
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ class WSGIRequest(http.HttpRequest):
 
     def _load_post_and_files(self):
         # Populates self._post and self._files
-        if self.environ['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'POST':
+        if self.method == 'POST':
             if self.environ.get('CONTENT_TYPE', '').startswith('multipart'):
                 header_dict = dict([(k, v) for k, v in self.environ.items() if k.startswith('HTTP_')])
                 header_dict['Content-Type'] = self.environ.get('CONTENT_TYPE', '')
diff --git a/django/middleware/cache.py b/django/middleware/cache.py
index 5510eba714..80c8626db8 100644
--- a/django/middleware/cache.py
+++ b/django/middleware/cache.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ class CacheMiddleware(object):
 
     def process_request(self, request):
         "Checks whether the page is already cached and returns the cached version if available."
-        if not request.META['REQUEST_METHOD'] in ('GET', 'HEAD') or request.GET:
+        if not request.method in ('GET', 'HEAD') or request.GET:
             request._cache_update_cache = False
             return None # Don't bother checking the cache.
 
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ class CacheMiddleware(object):
         if not hasattr(request, '_cache_update_cache') or not request._cache_update_cache:
             # We don't need to update the cache, just return.
             return response
-        if not request.META['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'GET':
+        if request.method != 'GET':
             # This is a stronger requirement than above. It is needed
             # because of interactions between this middleware and the
             # HTTPMiddleware, which throws the body of a HEAD-request
diff --git a/django/middleware/common.py b/django/middleware/common.py
index acd3233e1d..a42c54751d 100644
--- a/django/middleware/common.py
+++ b/django/middleware/common.py
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ class CommonMiddleware(object):
         # trailing slash or a file extension.
         if settings.APPEND_SLASH and (old_url[1][-1] != '/') and ('.' not in old_url[1].split('/')[-1]):
             new_url[1] = new_url[1] + '/'
-            if settings.DEBUG and request.META['REQUEST_METHOD'].lower() == 'post':
+            if settings.DEBUG and request.method == 'POST':
                 raise RuntimeError, "You called this URL via POST, but the URL doesn't end in a slash and you have APPEND_SLASH set. Django can't redirect to the slash URL while maintaining POST data. Change your form to point to %s%s (note the trailing slash), or set APPEND_SLASH=False in your Django settings." % (new_url[0], new_url[1])
         if new_url != old_url:
             # Redirect
diff --git a/django/middleware/doc.py b/django/middleware/doc.py
index 01c09e9c15..6600e588cd 100644
--- a/django/middleware/doc.py
+++ b/django/middleware/doc.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ class XViewMiddleware(object):
         with an x-header indicating the view function.  This is used by the
         documentation module to lookup the view function for an arbitrary page.
         """
-        if request.META['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'HEAD' and request.META.get('REMOTE_ADDR') in settings.INTERNAL_IPS:
+        if request.method == 'HEAD' and request.META.get('REMOTE_ADDR') in settings.INTERNAL_IPS:
             response = http.HttpResponse()
             response['X-View'] = "%s.%s" % (view_func.__module__, view_func.__name__)
             return response
diff --git a/django/middleware/http.py b/django/middleware/http.py
index 0a8cd67dfa..12d0c0f683 100644
--- a/django/middleware/http.py
+++ b/django/middleware/http.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ class ConditionalGetMiddleware(object):
                 response.content = ''
                 response['Content-Length'] = '0'
 
-        if request.META['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'HEAD':
+        if request.method == 'HEAD':
             response.content = ''
 
         return response
diff --git a/django/views/decorators/http.py b/django/views/decorators/http.py
index a62c13fb4d..9feb8c0d84 100644
--- a/django/views/decorators/http.py
+++ b/django/views/decorators/http.py
@@ -17,12 +17,11 @@ def require_http_methods(request_method_list):
             # I can assume now that only GET or POST requests make it this far
             # ...
 
-    Note that request methods ARE case sensitive.
+    Note that request methods should be in uppercase.
     """
     def decorator(func):
         def inner(request, *args, **kwargs):
-            method = request.META.get("REQUEST_METHOD", None)
-            if method not in request_method_list:
+            if request.method not in request_method_list:
                 return HttpResponseNotAllowed(request_method_list)
             return func(request, *args, **kwargs)
         return inner
diff --git a/django/views/generic/create_update.py b/django/views/generic/create_update.py
index c6d7db7af5..b5fdd3e4cc 100644
--- a/django/views/generic/create_update.py
+++ b/django/views/generic/create_update.py
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ def update_object(request, model, object_id=None, slug=None,
 
     if request.POST:
         new_data = request.POST.copy()
-        if model._meta.has_field_type(FileField): 
+        if model._meta.has_field_type(FileField):
             new_data.update(request.FILES)
         errors = manipulator.get_validation_errors(new_data)
         manipulator.do_html2python(new_data)
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ def delete_object(request, model, post_delete_redirect,
     except ObjectDoesNotExist:
         raise Http404, "No %s found for %s" % (model._meta.app_label, lookup_kwargs)
 
-    if request.META['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'POST':
+    if request.method == 'POST':
         object.delete()
         if not request.user.is_anonymous():
             request.user.message_set.create(message="The %s was deleted." % model._meta.verbose_name)