Epsteen or Epstine

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Posted by Diaphone Jim
7/18/2025 10:20 pm
#1

And why?

 
Posted by Anon
7/19/2025 8:58 am
#2

NYT:

A pattern is seen by John Algeo, professor of English at the University of Georgia. ''The German names are usually pronounced with an eye sound. Most of the Jewish names have had the American influence of the ee sound, as in the words weird or receive , particularly that ei after the letter c .'' Professor Algeo notes that, in Yiddish, a sound change occurred, with the ei pronounced as a long a , as in stain , but changed in American-influenced Yiddish to ee . ''The ending of stein , pronounced steen ,'' he concludes, ''reflects an American influence.''From this, we can formulate Stein's Rule: Although names ending in stein can be pronounced either stein or steen , names consisting exclusively of Stein are pronounced stine . (In the rare case of a person named Stein refusing to go along with the crowd, this is changed to ''Steen's Rule.'')

 
Posted by Diaphone Jim
7/19/2025 6:25 pm
#3

Albert Einstein (Inestine)
Harvey Weinstein (Winesteen)
Jeffery Epstein (Epstine sometimes, Epsteen sometimes)
 

 
Posted by Anon
7/19/2025 7:48 pm
#4

Diaphone Jim wrote:

…Jeffery Epstein (Epstine sometimes, Epsteen sometimes)

Not accurately. The Wikipedia article on him spells out the pronunciation “EP-steen” and has a recording  you can play that sounds it out.. The section titled Early life states that his parents were Jewish which would affect the family’s surname pronunciation. Many won’t care which may account for what you hear.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Epstein
 

 
Posted by Diaphone Jim
7/23/2025 11:26 am
#5

Can you find a recording of Epstein saying his name? Or Trump? 

 
Posted by Anon
7/23/2025 9:52 pm
#6

Trump pronounces the surname as EP-steen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUmdFmAmHoM

 


 
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