diff --git a/client.go b/client.go
index 05ae829..e90fa77 100644
--- a/client.go
+++ b/client.go
@@ -4,10 +4,11 @@ import (
 	"bufio"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
-	irc "github.com/fluffle/goirc/client"
-	"github.com/fluffle/goirc/logging/glog"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
+
+	irc "github.com/fluffle/goirc/client"
+	"github.com/fluffle/goirc/logging/glog"
 )
 
 var host *string = flag.String("host", "irc.freenode.net", "IRC server")
@@ -70,6 +71,9 @@ func main() {
 				case cmd[1] == 'q':
 					reallyquit = true
 					c.Quit(cmd[idx+1 : len(cmd)])
+				case cmd[1] == 's':
+					reallyquit = true
+					c.Shutdown()
 				case cmd[1] == 'j':
 					c.Join(cmd[idx+1 : len(cmd)])
 				case cmd[1] == 'p':
diff --git a/client/connection.go b/client/connection.go
index c2f3446..d53a255 100644
--- a/client/connection.go
+++ b/client/connection.go
@@ -386,9 +386,9 @@ func (conn *Conn) send() {
 		case line := <-conn.out:
 			if err := conn.write(line); err != nil {
 				logging.Error("irc.send(): %s", err.Error())
-				// We can't defer this, because shutdown() waits for it.
+				// We can't defer this, because Shutdown() waits for it.
 				conn.wg.Done()
-				conn.shutdown()
+				conn.Shutdown()
 				return
 			}
 		case <-conn.die:
@@ -409,9 +409,9 @@ func (conn *Conn) recv() {
 			if err != io.EOF {
 				logging.Error("irc.recv(): %s", err.Error())
 			}
-			// We can't defer this, because shutdown() waits for it.
+			// We can't defer this, because Shutdown() waits for it.
 			conn.wg.Done()
-			conn.shutdown()
+			conn.Shutdown()
 			return
 		}
 		s = strings.Trim(s, "\r\n")
@@ -503,17 +503,18 @@ func (conn *Conn) rateLimit(chars int) time.Duration {
 	return 0
 }
 
-// shutdown tears down all connection-related state. It is called when either
+// Shutdown tears down all connection-related state. It is called when either
 // the sending or receiving goroutines encounter an error.
-func (conn *Conn) shutdown() {
-	// Guard against double-call of shutdown() if we get an error in send()
+// It may also be used to forcibly shut down the connection to the server.
+func (conn *Conn) Shutdown() {
+	// Guard against double-call of Shutdown() if we get an error in send()
 	// as calling sock.Close() will cause recv() to receive EOF in readstring()
 	conn.mu.Lock()
 	if !conn.connected {
 		conn.mu.Unlock()
 		return
 	}
-	logging.Info("irc.shutdown(): Disconnected from server.")
+	logging.Info("irc.Shutdown(): Disconnected from server.")
 	conn.connected = false
 	conn.sock.Close()
 	close(conn.die)
diff --git a/client/connection_test.go b/client/connection_test.go
index 6f78b05..91893c7 100644
--- a/client/connection_test.go
+++ b/client/connection_test.go
@@ -70,11 +70,11 @@ func setUp(t *testing.T, start ...bool) (*Conn, *testState) {
 
 func (s *testState) tearDown() {
 	s.nc.ExpectNothing()
-	s.c.shutdown()
+	s.c.Shutdown()
 	s.ctrl.Finish()
 }
 
-// Practically the same as the above test, but shutdown is called implicitly
+// Practically the same as the above test, but Shutdown is called implicitly
 // by recv() getting an EOF from the mock connection.
 func TestEOF(t *testing.T) {
 	c, s := setUp(t)
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ func TestSendExitsOnDie(t *testing.T) {
 	// Now, use the control channel to exit send and kill the goroutine.
 	// This sneakily uses the fact that the other two goroutines that would
 	// normally be waiting for die to close are not running, so we only send
-	// to the goroutine started above. Normally shutdown() closes c.die and
+	// to the goroutine started above. Normally Shutdown() closes c.die and
 	// signals to all three goroutines (send, ping, runLoop) to exit.
 	exited.assertNotCalled("Exited before signal sent.")
 	c.die <- struct{}{}
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ func TestSendExitsOnWriteError(t *testing.T) {
 	s.nc.Expect("SENT AFTER START")
 
 	// Now, close the underlying socket to cause write() to return an error.
-	// This will call shutdown() => a call to st.Wipe() will happen.
+	// This will call Shutdown() => a call to st.Wipe() will happen.
 	exited.assertNotCalled("Exited before signal sent.")
 	s.nc.Close()
 	// Sending more on c.out shouldn't reach the network, but we need to send
@@ -244,8 +244,8 @@ func TestSendDeadlockOnFullBuffer(t *testing.T) {
 	// Passing a second value to setUp stops goroutines from starting
 	c, s := setUp(t, false)
 	// We can't use tearDown here because we're testing a deadlock condition
-	// and if tearDown tries to call shutdown() it will deadlock some more
-	// because send() is holding the conn mutex via shutdown() already.
+	// and if tearDown tries to call Shutdown() it will deadlock some more
+	// because send() is holding the conn mutex via Shutdown() already.
 	defer s.ctrl.Finish()
 
 	// We want to test that the a goroutine calling send will exit correctly.
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ func TestSendDeadlockOnFullBuffer(t *testing.T) {
 	// The deadlock arises when a handler being called from conn.dispatch() in
 	// runLoop() tries to write to conn.out to send a message back to the IRC
 	// server, but the buffer is full. If at the same time send() is
-	// calling conn.shutdown() and waiting in there for runLoop() to call
+	// calling conn.Shutdown() and waiting in there for runLoop() to call
 	// conn.wg.Done(), it will not empty the buffer of conn.out => deadlock.
 	//
 	// We simulate this by artifically filling conn.out. We must use a
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@ func TestSendDeadlockOnFullBuffer(t *testing.T) {
 	// At this point the handler should be blocked on a write to conn.out,
 	// preventing runLoop from looping and thus noticing conn.die is closed.
 	//
-	// The next part is to force send() to call conn.shutdown(), which can
+	// The next part is to force send() to call conn.Shutdown(), which can
 	// be done by closing the fake net.Conn so that it returns an error on
 	// calls to Write():
 	s.nc.ExpectNothing()
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ func TestSendDeadlockOnFullBuffer(t *testing.T) {
 
 	// Now when send is started it will read one line from conn.out and try
 	// to write it to the socket. It should immediately receive an error and
-	// call conn.shutdown(), triggering the deadlock as it waits forever for
+	// call conn.Shutdown(), triggering the deadlock as it waits forever for
 	// runLoop to call conn.wg.Done.
 	go func() {
 		c.send()
@@ -301,8 +301,8 @@ func TestSendDeadlockOnFullBuffer(t *testing.T) {
 	<-time.After(time.Millisecond)
 
 	// Verify that the connection no longer thinks it's connected, i.e.
-	// conn.shutdown() has definitely been called. We can't call
-	// conn.Connected() here because conn.shutdown() holds the mutex.
+	// conn.Shutdown() has definitely been called. We can't call
+	// conn.Connected() here because conn.Shutdown() holds the mutex.
 	if c.connected {
 		t.Errorf("Conn still thinks it's connected to the server.")
 	}
@@ -441,7 +441,7 @@ func TestPing(t *testing.T) {
 	// Now kill the ping loop.
 	// This sneakily uses the fact that the other two goroutines that would
 	// normally be waiting for die to close are not running, so we only send
-	// to the goroutine started above. Normally shutdown() closes c.die and
+	// to the goroutine started above. Normally Shutdown() closes c.die and
 	// signals to all three goroutines (send, ping, runLoop) to exit.
 	exited.assertNotCalled("Exited before signal sent.")
 	c.die <- struct{}{}
@@ -493,7 +493,7 @@ func TestRunLoop(t *testing.T) {
 	// Now, use the control channel to exit send and kill the goroutine.
 	// This sneakily uses the fact that the other two goroutines that would
 	// normally be waiting for die to close are not running, so we only send
-	// to the goroutine started above. Normally shutdown() closes c.die and
+	// to the goroutine started above. Normally Shutdown() closes c.die and
 	// signals to all three goroutines (send, ping, runLoop) to exit.
 	exited.assertNotCalled("Exited before signal sent.")
 	c.die <- struct{}{}