diff --git a/example.jade b/example.jade
index c4b5d9e..52239f5 100644
--- a/example.jade
+++ b/example.jade
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ html(lang="en", class = ['classOne', 'classTwo'].join(','))
         div#single-quote.example
           = 'this single quote should highlight as a string'
           = 'this one' + "and this should too"
+          != 'unescaped example'
           span= 'another' + "quote example"
           span this one shouldn't higlight strings or... .other #things if else
           | this one shouldn't highlight strings, and the same goes for .keywords #ok ?
@@ -35,6 +36,7 @@ html(lang="en", class = ['classOne', 'classTwo'].join(','))
           - var helperFunction = function (a) { return (a === 1 ? 'singular' : 'plural'); };
           span= someArray.join(', ')
           span= a.toString() + helperFunction(a)
+          span!= a.toString() + helperFunction(a)
           span#id.class(style = 'margin-bottom: 0;')= "some_js_expression".split('_').join(' ')
       #footer
         #copywrite-text= locals
diff --git a/jade-mode.el b/jade-mode.el
index 928f264..d3cb8b0 100644
--- a/jade-mode.el
+++ b/jade-mode.el
@@ -149,18 +149,24 @@ javascript."
 
       ;; before parsing/skipping ahead, check the first char; if it's
       ;; - (not a comment starter!) or =, then we know it's a JS block
-      (if (or (looking-at "-[^/]") (looking-at "="))
+      (if (or (looking-at "-[^/]") (looking-at "[!]?="))
           (jade-fontify-region-as-js (point) (point-at-eol))
 
         ;; no luck with the first char, so parse to the end of the tag
         ;; (including optional paren block) and check for '='
         (jade-goto-end-of-tag)
-        (if (and (looking-at "=") (not (eolp)))
+        (if (and (looking-at "[!]?=") (not (eolp)))
             (jade-fontify-region-as-js (point) (point-at-eol)))))
 
     ;; return some empty match data to appease the font-lock gods
     (looking-at "\\(\\)")))
 
+(defun reload-jade-mode ()
+  (interactive)
+  (when (fboundp 'jade-mode)
+        (unload-feature 'jade-mode))
+  (eval-buffer "jade-mode.el"))
+
 (defun jade-goto-end-of-tag ()
   "Skip ahead over whitespace, tag characters (defined in
 `jade-tag-declaration-char-re'), and paren blocks (using