The foam sleeve you put around a can of ice-cold beer or soda sometimes goes by a name that sounds like the word “cozy.” But how do you spell it? As with words that are primarily spoken, not written, it’s hard to find a single definitive spelling. In fact, the word for this sleeve is spelled at least a dozen different ways. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Beer Cozy or Koozie”
I probably should do an online survey about this, but how do you spell cozy, as in this foam thing that you put around a cold can of beer or soda?
Oh, I was thinking a tea cozy, which I would spell C-O-Z-Y, but I call it a koozie.
A koozie, yeah, and how do you spell that?
I have no idea.
I have 11 different spellings, and I came across a new spelling, C-U-Z-Z-I, which never occurred to me.
I think of a tea cozy as well, but there’s this whole universe of people who don’t.
They call it something else, and it’s the foam sleeve that you slip a drink in to keep it cool.
No, no. A cozy is where you get in and you turn on the jets and you relax and you drink something out of a cozy.
Put the Barry White music on.
Johnny Mathis.
Johnny Mathis.
Anyway, I was delighted.
You know, we don’t talk about variant spellings that often on the show, but sometimes when something is more orally transmitted, it has this immense number.
Because you don’t write that word, really, right?
I was going to say, I’m drinking a beer.
So 11 different spellings for cozy or koozy or cozy, as in the thing that keeps your drink cool.
Who knew?
I didn’t know.
Now I do.
We need an authority.
Tell us more about it.
Words@waywordradio.org, 877-929-9673, and Facebook and Twitter.
