diff --git a/include/znc/ZNCString.h b/include/znc/ZNCString.h
index 8b853002..749489b7 100644
--- a/include/znc/ZNCString.h
+++ b/include/znc/ZNCString.h
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 #include <vector>
 #include <sstream>
 #include <sys/types.h>
+#include <initializer_list>
 
 #define _SQL(s) CString("'" + CString(s).Escape_n(CString::ESQL) + "'")
 #define _URL(s) CString(s).Escape_n(CString::EURL)
@@ -104,6 +105,7 @@ public:
 	CString(const char* c, size_t l) : std::string(c, l) {}
 	CString(const std::string& s) : std::string(s) {}
 	CString(size_t n, char c) : std::string(n, c) {}
+	CString(std::initializer_list<char> list) : std::string(list) {}
 	~CString() {}
 	
 	/**
@@ -569,6 +571,7 @@ protected:
 
 /**
  * @brief A dictionary for strings.
+ * @todo Replace with "using MCString = std::map<CString, CString>;" in ZNC 2.0
  *
  * This class maps strings to other strings.
  */
@@ -576,6 +579,8 @@ class MCString : public std::map<CString, CString> {
 public:
 	/** Construct an empty MCString. */
 	MCString() : std::map<CString, CString>() {}
+	/** Construct a MCString using an initializer list eg. MCString m = { {"key1", "val1"}, {"key2", "val2"} }; */
+	MCString(std::initializer_list<std::pair<const CString, CString>> list) : std::map<CString, CString>(list) {}
 	/** Destruct this MCString. */
 	virtual ~MCString() { clear(); }
 
diff --git a/test/StringTest.cpp b/test/StringTest.cpp
index 06ad8cda..cd8d441d 100644
--- a/test/StringTest.cpp
+++ b/test/StringTest.cpp
@@ -161,18 +161,15 @@ TEST(StringTest, Split) {
 	CS("a b c").Split(" ", vresult);
 	EXPECT_EQ(vexpected, vresult);
 
-	MCString mexpected;
+	MCString mexpected = { {"a","b"}, {"c","d"} };
 	MCString mresult;
 
-	mexpected["a"] = "b";
-	mexpected["c"] = "d";
 	CS("a=x&c=d&a=b").URLSplit(mresult);
 	EXPECT_EQ(mexpected, mresult) << "URLSplit";
 }
 
 TEST(StringTest, NamedFormat) {
-	MCString m;
-	m["a"] = "b";
+	MCString m = { {"a","b"} };
 	EXPECT_EQ("{xbyb", CString::NamedFormat(CS("\\{x{a}y{a}"), m));
 }
 
diff --git a/test/UtilsTest.cpp b/test/UtilsTest.cpp
index c7e73500..ea5bf21a 100644
--- a/test/UtilsTest.cpp
+++ b/test/UtilsTest.cpp
@@ -22,38 +22,27 @@ TEST(IRC32, GetMessageTags) {
 	EXPECT_EQ(MCString(), CUtils::GetMessageTags(""));
 	EXPECT_EQ(MCString(), CUtils::GetMessageTags(":nick!ident@host PRIVMSG #chan :hello world"));
 
-	MCString exp;
-	exp["a"] = "b";
+	MCString exp = { {"a","b"} };
 	EXPECT_EQ(exp, CUtils::GetMessageTags("@a=b"));
 	EXPECT_EQ(exp, CUtils::GetMessageTags("@a=b :nick!ident@host PRIVMSG #chan :hello world"));
 	EXPECT_EQ(exp, CUtils::GetMessageTags("@a=b :rest"));
 	exp.clear();
 
-	exp["ab"] = "cdef";
-	exp["znc.in/gh-ij"] = "klmn,op";
+	exp = { {"ab","cdef"}, {"znc.in/gh-ij","klmn,op"} };
 	EXPECT_EQ(exp, CUtils::GetMessageTags("@ab=cdef;znc.in/gh-ij=klmn,op :rest"));
-	exp.clear();
 
-	exp["a"] = "==b==";
+	exp = { {"a","==b=="} };
 	EXPECT_EQ(exp, CUtils::GetMessageTags("@a===b== :rest"));
 	exp.clear();
 
-	exp["a"] = "";
-	exp["b"] = "c";
-	exp["d"] = "";
+	exp = { {"a",""}, {"b","c"}, {"d",""} };
 	EXPECT_EQ(exp, CUtils::GetMessageTags("@a;b=c;d :rest"));
-	exp.clear();
 
-	exp["semi-colon"] += ';';
-	exp["space"] += ' ';
-	exp["NUL"] += '\0';
-	exp["backslash"] += '\\';
-	exp["CR"] += '\r';
-	exp["LF"] += '\n';
+	exp = { {"semi-colon",";"}, {"space"," "}, {"NUL",{'\0'}}, {"backslash","\\"}, {"CR",{'\r'}}, {"LF",{'\n'}} };
 	EXPECT_EQ(exp, CUtils::GetMessageTags(R"(@semi-colon=\:;space=\s;NUL=\0;backslash=\\;CR=\r;LF=\n :rest)"));
 	exp.clear();
 
-	exp["a"] = "; \\\r\n";
+	exp = { {"a","; \\\r\n"} };
 	EXPECT_EQ(exp, CUtils::GetMessageTags(R"(@a=\:\s\\\r\n :rest)"));
 	exp.clear();
 }
@@ -65,31 +54,23 @@ TEST(IRC32, SetMessageTags) {
 	CUtils::SetMessageTags(sLine, MCString());
 	EXPECT_EQ(":rest", sLine);
 
-	MCString tags;
-	tags["a"] = "b";
+	MCString tags = { {"a","b"} };
 	CUtils::SetMessageTags(sLine, tags);
 	EXPECT_EQ("@a=b :rest", sLine);
 
-	tags["c"] = "d";
+	tags = { {"a","b"}, {"c","d"} };
 	CUtils::SetMessageTags(sLine, tags);
 	EXPECT_EQ("@a=b;c=d :rest", sLine);
 
-	tags["e"] = "";
+	tags = { {"a","b"}, {"c","d"}, {"e",""} };
 	CUtils::SetMessageTags(sLine, tags);
 	EXPECT_EQ("@a=b;c=d;e :rest", sLine);
-	tags.clear();
 
-	tags["semi-colon"] += ';';
-	tags["space"] += ' ';
-	tags["NUL"] += '\0';
-	tags["backslash"] += '\\';
-	tags["CR"] += '\r';
-	tags["LF"] += '\n';
+	tags = { {"semi-colon",";"}, {"space"," "}, {"NUL",{'\0'}}, {"backslash","\\"}, {"CR",{'\r'}}, {"LF",{'\n'}} };
 	CUtils::SetMessageTags(sLine, tags);
 	EXPECT_EQ(R"(@CR=\r;LF=\n;NUL=\0;backslash=\\;semi-colon=\:;space=\s :rest)", sLine);
-	tags.clear();
 
-	tags["a"] = "; \\\r\n";
+	tags = { {"a","; \\\r\n"} };
 	CUtils::SetMessageTags(sLine, tags);
 	EXPECT_EQ(R"(@a=\:\s\\\r\n :rest)", sLine);
 }