2 ms·

Yes, your comment was the inspiration, I went to google the spelling because I vaguely remembered Berenstein, and got sucked into reading about the issue. I th

by sea6ear 11y ago

Yes, your comment was the inspiration, I went to google the spelling because I vaguely remembered Berenstein, and got sucked into reading about the issue. I think the most plausible explanation for me is that they pronounced it "Bear-en-steen" in the videos so as a kid I just assumed that was reflected in the actual spelling.

Nadya 11y ago
That's the same conclusion I've come to.
davidcatalano 11y ago
I too was once in universe E.
fl0wenol 11y ago
Right there with ya, the release of the TV show and never hearing adults pronounce alternate spellings as a kid cemented it in my mind. Looking at artwork and pictures of it, you'll notice the lowercase 'a' is used in the titles of the book, and this looks a lot like an 'e' in cursive, which furthered the confusion. I was reading about it and caught a picture of a poster for the TV show on another website, and realized that when the words were written in title case or UPPER CASE, then all of a sudden the 'A' looked right and the 'E' looked wrong! So my visual memory of the 'A' is intact, but only in the uppercase form, where the visual difference is stark. In the lower-case cursive form (used on so many of the book titles from the time period I had them), it's so easy to see it as an 'E' when that's the pronounciation that everyone tended to use. I mean do you know anyone with a last name ending in -stain vs. -stein or -stine? Not me.
fiblye 11y ago
I remember my (first grade?) teacher made a point to tell us that even though the name was written with an "a", it was read as an "e" to demonstrate how English violates so many of its supposed rules. So thankfully I never struggled with the actual spelling and questioning my sanity over it.
neckro23 11y ago
This seems the most likely explanation -- compounded by the fact that us kids reading the books were just beginning to learn how to read. After reading the article, I do vaguely recall some childhood cognitive dissonance over the fact that it was pronounced "steen" but spelled "stain"... but my main memory is of the pronunciation, not the spelling. If you'd asked me before reading this, I'd've sworn up and down it was spelled "Berenstein".

by sea6ear 11y ago

Nadya 11y ago

That's the same conclusion I've come to.

davidcatalano 11y ago

I too was once in universe E.

fl0wenol 11y ago

Right there with ya, the release of the TV show and never hearing adults pronounce alternate spellings as a kid cemented it in my mind. Looking at artwork and pictures of it, you'll notice the lowercase 'a' is used in the titles of the book, and this looks a lot like an 'e' in cursive, which furthered the confusion. I was reading about it and caught a picture of a poster for the TV show on another website, and realized that when the words were written in title case or UPPER CASE, then all of a sudden the 'A' looked right and the 'E' looked wrong! So my visual memory of the 'A' is intact, but only in the uppercase form, where the visual difference is stark. In the lower-case cursive form (used on so many of the book titles from the time period I had them), it's so easy to see it as an 'E' when that's the pronounciation that everyone tended to use. I mean do you know anyone with a last name ending in -stain vs. -stein or -stine? Not me.

fiblye 11y ago

I remember my (first grade?) teacher made a point to tell us that even though the name was written with an "a", it was read as an "e" to demonstrate how English violates so many of its supposed rules. So thankfully I never struggled with the actual spelling and questioning my sanity over it.

neckro23 11y ago

This seems the most likely explanation -- compounded by the fact that us kids reading the books were just beginning to learn how to read. After reading the article, I do vaguely recall some childhood cognitive dissonance over the fact that it was pronounced "steen" but spelled "stain"... but my main memory is of the pronunciation, not the spelling. If you'd asked me before reading this, I'd've sworn up and down it was spelled "Berenstein".