diff --git a/django/contrib/admin/validation.py b/django/contrib/admin/validation.py
index 027db6383e..ba3525624d 100644
--- a/django/contrib/admin/validation.py
+++ b/django/contrib/admin/validation.py
@@ -46,9 +46,8 @@ def validate(cls, model):
     if hasattr(cls, 'list_display_links'):
         check_isseq(cls, 'list_display_links', cls.list_display_links)
         for idx, field in enumerate(cls.list_display_links):
-            fetch_attr(cls, model, opts, 'list_display_links[%d]' % idx, field)
             if field not in cls.list_display:
-                raise ImproperlyConfigured("'%s.list_display_links[%d]'"
+                raise ImproperlyConfigured("'%s.list_display_links[%d]' "
                         "refers to '%s' which is not defined in 'list_display'."
                         % (cls.__name__, idx, field))
 
diff --git a/docs/ref/contrib/admin/index.txt b/docs/ref/contrib/admin/index.txt
index 42c0a34055..c28dc8b7b3 100644
--- a/docs/ref/contrib/admin/index.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/contrib/admin/index.txt
@@ -479,11 +479,11 @@ subclass::
     By default, the change list page will link the first column -- the first
     field specified in ``list_display`` -- to the change page for each item.
     But ``list_display_links`` lets you change which columns are linked. Set
-    ``list_display_links`` to a list or tuple of field names (in the same
+    ``list_display_links`` to a list or tuple of fields (in the same
     format as ``list_display``) to link.
 
-    ``list_display_links`` can specify one or many field names. As long as the
-    field names appear in ``list_display``, Django doesn't care how many (or
+    ``list_display_links`` can specify one or many fields. As long as the
+    fields appear in ``list_display``, Django doesn't care how many (or
     how few) fields are linked. The only requirement is: If you want to use
     ``list_display_links``, you must define ``list_display``.
 
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/modeladmin/models.py b/tests/regressiontests/modeladmin/models.py
index 20dfe2ce98..cb2e3d1b0b 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/modeladmin/models.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/modeladmin/models.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ class Band(models.Model):
     name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
     bio = models.TextField()
     sign_date = models.DateField()
-    
+
     def __unicode__(self):
         return self.name
 
@@ -32,5 +32,8 @@ class ValidationTestModel(models.Model):
     pub_date = models.DateTimeField()
     band = models.ForeignKey(Band)
 
+    def decade_published_in(self):
+        return self.pub_date.strftime('%Y')[:3] + "0's"
+
 class ValidationTestInlineModel(models.Model):
     parent = models.ForeignKey(ValidationTestModel)
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/modeladmin/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/modeladmin/tests.py
index 042c1b75ea..74dacd3227 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/modeladmin/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/modeladmin/tests.py
@@ -771,8 +771,13 @@ class ValidationTests(unittest.TestCase):
             ValidationTestModel,
         )
 
+        def a_callable(obj):
+            pass
+
         class ValidationTestModelAdmin(ModelAdmin):
-            list_display = ('name',)
+            def a_method(self, obj):
+                pass
+            list_display = ('name', 'decade_published_in', 'a_method', a_callable)
 
         validate(ValidationTestModelAdmin, ValidationTestModel)
 
@@ -794,7 +799,7 @@ class ValidationTests(unittest.TestCase):
 
         self.assertRaisesRegexp(
             ImproperlyConfigured,
-            "'ValidationTestModelAdmin.list_display_links\[0\]' refers to 'non_existent_field' that is neither a field, method or property of model 'ValidationTestModel'.",
+            "'ValidationTestModelAdmin.list_display_links\[0\]' refers to 'non_existent_field' which is not defined in 'list_display'.",
             validate,
             ValidationTestModelAdmin,
             ValidationTestModel,
@@ -805,15 +810,20 @@ class ValidationTests(unittest.TestCase):
 
         self.assertRaisesRegexp(
             ImproperlyConfigured,
-            "'ValidationTestModelAdmin.list_display_links\[0\]'refers to 'name' which is not defined in 'list_display'.",
+            "'ValidationTestModelAdmin.list_display_links\[0\]' refers to 'name' which is not defined in 'list_display'.",
             validate,
             ValidationTestModelAdmin,
             ValidationTestModel,
         )
 
+        def a_callable(obj):
+            pass
+
         class ValidationTestModelAdmin(ModelAdmin):
-            list_display = ('name',)
-            list_display_links = ('name',)
+            def a_method(self, obj):
+                pass
+            list_display = ('name', 'decade_published_in', 'a_method', a_callable)
+            list_display_links = ('name', 'decade_published_in', 'a_method', a_callable)
 
         validate(ValidationTestModelAdmin, ValidationTestModel)