# The B\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_n Bears, by Stan and Jan B. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 28, 2014, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-b________n-bears-by-stan-and-jan-b/687189 "2014-04-28T14:21:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-b________n-bears-by-stan-and-jan-b/687189/21 "2014-04-28T18:00:49Z")
I’ve always mentally pronounced the last syllable as “stain.” If I had ever seen it spelled the other way, I would be mentally pronouncing it as “stine,” as in _Frankenstein_. (BTW, I’ve never read any of the books. I only know of them by reputation.) ---
**Author:** ![lew\_cody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e274bd/32.png) [@lew\_cody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lew_cody)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-b________n-bears-by-stan-and-jan-b/687189/22 "2014-04-28T18:07:15Z")
My own personal mnemonic for this is imagining Papa Bear falling down in the mud and getting a “stain” on his coveralls. Perhaps it’s scary that I have a mnemonic for this. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-b________n-bears-by-stan-and-jan-b/687189/23 "2014-04-28T18:20:23Z")
Diceman: > [@](#): > > My 4-year-old son is currently into them, so I’m pretty familiar with Papa, Mama, Brother, and Sister. But you haven’t yet met Honey, the baby sister? (I only recently discovered that the book series actually began with “Brother” being an only child, at the time called “Small Bear,” when I found an old book in which the family, with Papa predictably being the doofus, gives lessons on safety during a beach vacation.) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-b________n-bears-by-stan-and-jan-b/687189/24 "2014-04-28T18:23:30Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > I’m sure I pronounce like option 1, but remember it’s spelled like option 2. Wait, how are they supposed to be pronounced? Because I’ve always thought they were pronounced “stain”; so I don’t understand how so many people are messed up about the spelling. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-b________n-bears-by-stan-and-jan-b/687189/25 "2014-04-28T18:27:02Z")
> [@Cartoonacy](#): > > I’ve always mentally pronounced the last syllable as “stain.” If I had ever seen it spelled the other way, I would be mentally pronouncing it as “stine,” as in _Frankenstein_. > > (BTW, I’ve never read any of the books. I only know of them by reputation.) That’s Franken… ah, never mind. You know the ending. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-b________n-bears-by-stan-and-jan-b/687189/26 "2014-04-28T18:50:34Z")
Now I’d be interested to know if the Ein’s vs. Ain’s break down by when you were first introduced to the stories. If they break sharply around a certain decade, the “altered timeline” scenario would suddenly look creepily true. Me: Ein, 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-b________n-bears-by-stan-and-jan-b/687189/27 "2014-04-28T19:28:19Z")
I always thought the series looked kind of lame, and don’t recall them being among the reading choices for my son when he was growing up in the early 80s. However, in another lifetime I was once a radio talk show host, and I actually interviewed Stan and Jan. Oddly enough, it was right at the time they published [this book](http://www.amazon.com/How-Teach-Your-Children-About/dp/0345294580/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398713201&sr=1-6&keywords=berenstain+bears++sex), a somewhat unconventional entry in their canon! ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-b________n-bears-by-stan-and-jan-b/687189/28 "2014-04-28T19:31:13Z")
I had the books read to me as a child in the '70s, but it was only when my kids began watching the TV cartoons in the last decade that I heard the name in the theme song distinctly pronounced “-stain” and then I noticed the spelling. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-b________n-bears-by-stan-and-jan-b/687189/29 "2014-04-28T19:34:18Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I heard of them first from a humor book on marriage, **Marital Blitz** , published before they did bears. . . . Another good one was “Mr. Dirty and Mrs. Clean.” They were a lot of fun pre-Bears. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-b________n-bears-by-stan-and-jan-b/687189/30 "2014-04-28T20:11:47Z")
I heard the name before I ever saw it spelled, so I knew the first time I saw it that it was pronounced “-stain,” so I expected it to be spelled “-stain.” ---
**Author:** ![rucciface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ba9def/32.png) [@rucciface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rucciface)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-b________n-bears-by-stan-and-jan-b/687189/31 "2014-04-28T20:13:14Z")
Never read them, but have heard the name pronounced, and the -ein doesn’t groove with that (in my head, so I got it right). ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-b________n-bears-by-stan-and-jan-b/687189/32 "2014-04-28T20:41:12Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Another good one was “Mr. Dirty and Mrs. Clean.” They were a lot of fun pre-Bears. I never read the 'Bears, but I know the authors from _Never Trust Anyone Over 13_, which I read before I was 13. And, I pronounciate it “Bear N Stain”. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-b________n-bears-by-stan-and-jan-b/687189/33 "2014-04-28T21:49:14Z")
I got it right, but only because it was an issue on a [Jeopardy! episode](http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=3631) about three years ago. The contestant said “-stein” which was accepted at first but later overruled. If she had gotten it right, she would have had an extra $1200 at the end of Double Jeopardy and probably would have won the game. As it was, she lost by $201. I felt so bad for her. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-b________n-bears-by-stan-and-jan-b/687189/34 "2014-04-28T21:58:41Z")
As soon as I saw option #2, which I hadn’t considered, I knew I was going to vote for the wrong one! But, respecting the op’s instructions, I voted for #1 because that was my true response. Hell, I thought I was on the ball because I remembered the additional syllable: Berenstein, not Bernstein. Wrong on both counts. Nice one! ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-b________n-bears-by-stan-and-jan-b/687189/35 "2014-04-29T03:15:11Z")
I knew it was “Berenstain,” because I’ve always kind of thought of the books as a “stain” on children’s literature. What? After Mr. Legend read a couple of these in which Papa Bear is almost criminally incompetent and stupid, he asked if we could just get rid of any that we owned (one) and discourage the reading of them to our children anywhere else. We just read a little more Dr. Seuss, Shel Silverstein and Maurice Sendak and the kids never missed the stupid bears and their stupid overalls. Feh. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-b________n-bears-by-stan-and-jan-b/687189/36 "2014-04-29T03:28:48Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I heard the name before I ever saw it spelled, so I knew the first time I saw it that it was pronounced “-stain,” so I expected it to be spelled “-stain.” Yeah, it’s not Beren-stine or Beren-steen, so I would have been surprised if it wasn’t spelled Berenstain. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-b________n-bears-by-stan-and-jan-b/687189.md?page=1)