The latest installment in the Corbyn anti-Jewish racism saga sent me down an orthoepic route. Why, exactly, is Jewish Twitter so up in arms about his pronunciation of “Epstein” as “Ep-shtine” rather than “Ep-steen”? Why was I so shocked when he said it last night? (A thread) /1
First, a rider. This is obviously not about Epstein’s posthumous rights to correct pronunciation. He lost those rights when he committed his crimes. /2
No, the reason we care is because even in this primetime moment, Corbyn’s attempt to put the past behind him and sell himself as prime ministerial, he just can’t help himself inserting a subtle racist dig at the British Jews watching. /3
When he mispronounces it as ‘Ep-shtine’ - the traditional German-Jewish pronunciation rather than the Americanised “Ep-steen” that we’re all used to - every Jew watching heard the jibe. Heard him “otherise” Epstein and emphasise his foreignness. His Jewishness. /4
There’s just no way Corbyn doesn’t know that Epstein didn’t pronounce it that way. He’s been the subject of rolling news coverage for the last year. In all of that, I’ve never once heard someone use the Mitteleuropean pronunciation until Corbyn. /5
But why is it so problematic, orthoepically? Well, it turns out he’s making two deliberate choices. First, he turns ‘steen’ to ‘stine’. In itself, despite the fact that he’d have to be stupid or deaf not to have absorbed the correct pronunciation, that’s not the problem. /6
In fact, I dug up this great piece from the New York Times in 1983 debating the occasions when ‘stein’ is pronounced as ‘stine’ and when it’s ‘steen’. Short version? It’s a mess. nytimes.com/1983/12/25/mag… /7
“Here are a few stines : John Steinbeck, Albert Einstein, Gloria Steinem, Mayor Dianne Feinstein; the ''eye'' pronunciation of the ei can also be heard in the names of Dwight Eisenhower, Carl Reiner, Caspar Weinberger and Barbra (only two a 's) Streisand.” /8
“Now here are a few steens : Leonard Bernstein, Carl Bernstein, Robert Brustein. Gambler Nicky Arnstein married Fanny Brice, played by Barbra Streisand, in a confusing ee-eye-o.” /9
So it’s clear that in the matter of ‘stine’ versus ‘steen’, there’s potentially room for debate. (I mean, not for a man whose name has been on the news every day for a year, but let’s be generous for a theoretical moment.) /10
But then Corbyn does something else. He turns ‘s’ to ‘sh’, so ‘steen’ becomes ‘shtine’. That’s when we know. It can’t possibly be a mistake. There’s no English pronunciation of a name that does that. Jeffrey Epstein was born in the US. His father was born in the US. /11
It’s a deliberate choice. It’s gas lighting. It’s sticking a finger up to Jewish voters, as he stands on the stage lying about his handling of antisemitism, to unabashedly show us he couldn’t care less about our pain or our votes. It’s breathtakingly blatant. /12
I’ve seen people call it a microaggression. But this is no microaggression. This is a deliberate provocation. This a man showing his truest colours. It’s taunting. This is racism, pure and simple. And we see it. #ITVLeadersDebate #Epshtein #LabourAntisemitism /13
For the avoidance of doubt, I’m quoting here from the New York Times in 1983. I think there’s a reasonable chance they were wrong about Bernstein as Bern-steen versus Bern-stine. Which illustrates my point. Steen and stine are often used. Shtine is a whole different ballgame.
