Several years ago at a break-the-fast I complemented the host on the delicious, dairy noodle pudding she served.
"Your keegel is wonderful," I said.
She replied icily: "I don't make keegel. I make kugel."
Linguists will understand this comment, as it reflects dialect difference in Yiddish. My ancestors, who came to the United States from what is now western Ukraine, spoke a southeastern dialect of Yiddish in which the high rounded back vowel /u/ moved forward in the throat to be pronounced /i/. Hence, "keegel" and "kugel" are the same word, just pronounced differently. I note that the Wikipedia article on Yiddish dialects uses "קוגעל = kugel = kigel" in a chart to explain this particular difference.
There's also a sociological undertone to the comment, related to how Litvaks (who spoke a northern dialect) looked down on Galitzianers (who spoke a southern dialect). This food critic's discussion of kugel reflects this disdain, which also points out that the descendants of Litvaks tend to make a savory, non-dairy kugel that accompanies meat meals under kosher dietary laws, while Galitzianers and Ukrainians tend to make a sweetened dairy keegel which (despite the comment of the food critic and other Litvak descendants) is not a dessert but again a side dish, this time for fish or dairy meals.
Count me among those who prefer keegel to kugel, and dairy to parve.