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Wednesday, April 23, 2008

You Say Guillen, I Say Gui-zhen


Seeing Ozzie Guillen in the dugout tonight has me wondering.

Back when Jim Kaat was in The Booth, he called Ozzie Guillen, "Ozzie Gui-zhen."

I could never figure out (1) why he thought it was pronounced that way, and (2) why nobody in the production truck ever set him straight.

Now, I love Jim Kaat. The guy could pitch and play his position with the best of them.

But how do you get Gui-zhen from Guillen?

6 comments:

Statler said...

In Argentina the "y" and "ll" are often pronounced "zh," so you'd say "zho" instead of "yo."

But Guillen's from Venezuela, so I don't really know why Kaat is pronouncing it that way. Maybe Kaat was rollin' with some Argentines?

Anonymous said...

It's Venezuelan, you hick. Get off the fuckin' Thruway some time.

Anonymous said...

While we're at it, what kind of Venezuelan gaucho bandito mom names her son Ozzie?

Anonymous said...

Drop the comma from your "max bear, jnr.," while we're at it, then. I read Strunk & White on the Thruway dumper last night, and it says the "," is superfluous.

Anonymous said...

It's "Oswaldo," you upstate illiterates!

Anonymous said...

Leave my friends alone. We are ALL New Yorkers, even those simple folk outside the City in the polar regions.