Merge pull request #18362 from georgemillo/attribute

replacing 'attribute' method with an alias

activerecord/lib/active_record/attribute_methods/read.rb

@@ -75,9 +75,8 @@ def _read_attribute(attr_name) # :nodoc:
 
       private
 
-      def attribute(attribute_name)
-        _read_attribute(attribute_name)
-      end
+      alias :attribute :_read_attribute
+
     end
   end
 end