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OT: Chat/OT: Pronunciation in Helloween's "Dr. Stein"

From:David J. Peterson <dedalvs@...>
Date:Monday, September 29, 2008, 18:41
Hey all,

This is just something that's been bugging for a little while.
There's a power metal band from the late 80's/early 90's
called Helloween from Germany.  All the band member are
from Germany, were born there, presumably speak German
as an L1, etc., but due to the ways of the music world, all their
songs are in English.  (What's the deal with that, anyway?
The same goes for all these Finnish metal bands.)  They have
one song in particular called "Dr. Stein" about a doctor like
Victor Frankenstein where they pronounce his name as
follows:

[sti:n]

This confuses me to no end.  If it were in actual German (which,
of course, was what Frankenstein was supposed to be speaking
in the original [I think he was from Switzerland in the book]) it
should be:

[Stajn]

At the very least, I might expect:

[Sti:n]

But you get a full-on English-like pronunciation, even though
in English we pronounce it:

[stajn]

The only place I'd ever heard or seen the first pronunciation is
in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein.

Anyway, if anyone can shed any light on this, I'd be most
appreciative.

-David
*******************************************************************
"sunly eleSkarez ygralleryf ydZZixelje je ox2mejze."
"No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn."

-Jim Morrison

http://dedalvs.free.fr/

Replies

Lars Finsen <lars.finsen@...>
Peter Collier <petecollier@...>