diff --git a/lib/Prototype.js b/lib/Prototype.js
index 0e85338bab..07baf10309 100644
--- a/lib/Prototype.js
+++ b/lib/Prototype.js
@@ -1517,8 +1517,8 @@ Object.extend(Event, {
     Event.observers = false;
   },
 
-  observe: function(element, name, observer, useCapture) {
-    var element = $(element);
+  observe: function(elementParam, name, observer, useCapture) {
+    var element = $(elementParam);
     useCapture = useCapture || false;
 
     if (name == 'keypress' &&
@@ -1529,8 +1529,8 @@ Object.extend(Event, {
     this._observeAndCache(element, name, observer, useCapture);
   },
 
-  stopObserving: function(element, name, observer, useCapture) {
-    var element = $(element);
+  stopObserving: function(elementParam, name, observer, useCapture) {
+    var element = $(elementParam);
     useCapture = useCapture || false;
 
     if (name == 'keypress' &&
@@ -1778,4 +1778,4 @@ if (/Konqueror|Safari|KHTML/.test(navigator.userAgent)) {
 
     return [valueL, valueT];
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}