diff -ur src/el.c /Users/macports/Fix/libedit-48/src/el.c
--- src/el.c	2012-12-13 13:01:25.000000000 -0700
+++ src/el.c.orig	2013-02-07 11:05:15.000000000 -0700
@@ -120,6 +120,10 @@
 	/*
          * Initialize all the modules. Order is important!!!
          */
+	char *loc = setlocale(LC_CTYPE, NULL);
+	if (loc != NULL && strcmp(loc, "C") == 0)
+		setlocale(LC_CTYPE, "");
+
 	el->el_flags = flags;
 
 	if (terminal_init(el) == -1) {
