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Estate planning: Your questions
John Ventura, author of "Kiplinger's Estate Planning."
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Pronunciations are usually tied to where and by whom you were raised. I learned to pronounce certain words from my Australian mother. Those interesting pronunciations got me ridiculed. I now look at those things with a measure of sentimentality - it's a memory that stands out and makes me smile in my memory of my mother
You don't need to ask an expert how to pronounce "estate planning"; all you need is a dictionary. These days you may use either a long e ("e-STATE") or a short e ("es-TATE") to begin the word; but no reputable dictionary allows the accent on the first syllable ("ES-tate"), where you put it.
When I was a child my dentist corrected me when I said "SEE-ment mixer" for cement mixer, but I had an excuse. I grew up in Indiana. I didn't think people from Oregon were so dumb.
