Who is Rosetta Stone?

[Laurence Horn]

>?There is a radio commercial for a language learning program called
>"Rosetta Stone".  The enthusiastic radio announcer pronounces the
>program like the name of a person, "RoSETta STONE", not like the
>name of a famous archaeological artifact, the "RoSETta stone".  I
>just saw a television commercial for the same product.  This time,
>the announcer pronounces the term correctly as "RoSETta stone",
>but the two or three satisfied customers who refer to the product by
>name intone it like the personal name "RoSETta STONE", as does
>another announcer at the end who tells the viewer how to buy the
>product.  I wonder whether this commercial, on radio and television,
>is increasing the proportion of Americans who think that Rosetta
>Stone is a person.
>
>In checking the Buffalo telephone directory, I find there are five
>people named "R Stone", none of whom will spell out her first name.
>Hey, an idea:  The next time linguists hold a convention, offer free
>admission or some other goody to anyone who can produce I.D. as
>Rosetta Stone.
>
>-- Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY)
>
>P.S.  According to the Wikipedia article
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone,
>the Rosetta Stone acquired its name because it was found near the
>Egyptian port city
>of Rosetta (present-day Rashid).
>
Actually, I've always pronounced it (the artifact, not the language
learning program) "the Rosetta STONE".  Maybe it's just me.  ("The
RoSETta Stone" strikes me as contrastive.)

Larry

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