Kiki Cuyler… pronounced wrong for so long!

[Belfast1933]

Am I the only one who has mispronounced Kiki Cuyler’s name for as long as I knew of him as a HOFer from the 1930’s?

I just assumed it was pronounced “Key Key” like the Kiki Dee from back in the Elton John days.

Nope! Check this out…

His name "Kiki" (pronounced "kuy-kuy", rhymes with "eye") was a shortened form for his last name. He gained his nickname as a child, when it was simply "Cuy".

Who knew??

[JollyElm]

549. Kigh Anxiety
The distress felt by any well-versed baseball fan upon hearing Kiki Kuyler’s name once again being mispronounced.

[Belfast1933]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

549. Kigh Anxiety
The distress felt by any well-versed baseball fan upon hearing Kiki Kuyler’s name once again being mispronounced.

Nailed it…

[pclpads]

You say Kiki, I say Cuycuy . . . Since Cuyler left the room over 7 decades ago, he likely doesn't give a rat's ass how you pronounce his name.

[todeen]

Thanks for sharing. Since he played on the Reds, I would like to pronounce his name correctly. Where did you find this interesting nugget of information?

[Gorditadogg]

I used to say Kee Kee too, as in Kiki Dee.

A couple years ago I read an article that it was really Ky Ky, which makes sense, because it rhymes with Cuyler.

So just like Tyler Adams says, education is super important. Thanks for the thread.

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

549. Kigh Anxiety
The distress felt by any well-versed baseball fan upon hearing Kiki Kuyler’s name once again being mispronounced.

Love it!

[drcy]

I assumed it was keye keye because it would rhyme with his last name.

[JollyElm]

A while back there was a link to an old ballgame's broadcast - for some reason the 1934 All Star Game always comes to mind, but who knows if that is the right one - and in it they say Kiki the 'normal' way of "Kigh-Kigh" without even thinking about it. That sort of startled me, because it shows what a b*tch time is. Only people like us who came along many decades after Cuyler played his last game have any questions about how his name was pronounced. Time warps everything.

[jchcollins]

IIRC they pronounced it correctly on Leave It To Beaver. Cuyler was one of the players who had signed Ward's baseball that Eddie Haskell, et al. took out and played with.

[Jerry G]

The story that I have always heard was that Cuyler was a stutterer. When someone asked his name he replied, "Cuy...Cuy..." Hence, he became Ky Ky.

Nicknames back in the day weren't concerned about feelings or political correctness. Right, Dummy?

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

IIRC they pronounced it correctly on Leave It To Beaver. Cuyler was one of the players who had signed Ward's baseball that Eddie Haskell, et al. took out and played with.

That's where I first heard it pronounced correctly. But it wasn't Eddie who ruined the ball. It was Beaver and Larry.