Cornergami. Now I have a word to use for what I told some students to do with their last homework. It appears to be a natural for verbing, "Just cornergami it."
Emmett
"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."
A possible explanation. I don't think we are describing a "word" as much as a "trademark". Thirty some odd years ago, I was dating an accountant who was working on the books of a start-up company that was marketing a type of foam sleeve. I called it a "koozie" but she was quick to correct me of the company's official name in a way that you "xerox" instead of photocopying or describe gelatin desserts as "Jell-o". It is even a common joke to tell you are from Texas, where I grew up. You know you are from Texas and they ask you what kind of Coke you want and you say "Dr Pepper". So my best guess is that each of the spellings you have for a foam sleeve is actually correct in that they were originally a trademarked name of each of the specific brands that made them.
Could be wrong.
I would associate the "cozy" for a can as related to a tea "cosy" or "cozy" (UK vs US English). Where a tea cosy is to keep the teapot warm, it would follow accordingly that a can cosy (or cozy) is to keep the can cold. As the previous commenter stated, it would make sense that varied spellings would be trademarks. Unique spellings are all the rage, these days.
On a tangent: Especially with the takeoff of the internet in the past 20-odd years, people started using entirely too much shorthand, in my opinion. Text messaging only made it worse. As a 21-year-old living in Texas, most of my peers do not know how to spell many common words, simply because they didn't have to. I took an English class at our local community college as part of basics, and was appalled that not only did our primary class discussion take place in message boards online, but that students were not significantly marked down for spelling or syntactical errors. I helped to tutor other students in my class for papers, and found that many of the students (although some several years older than I was at the time) simply did not know basic rules of English. What happened?
As an Australian who regularly listens to the podcast, I am sometimes surprised by the references to "Australian words" on your program.
In this episode you mention "socky" and "toey".
In my 71 years I have never heard "socky" but, given the meaning you associate with it, I can only assume it's meant to be "sooky". A "sook" is a soft or timid person (more normally applied to a small child - for example, a child who cries over something very minor - than to an older child or an adult). The closest thing to a synonym would be "crybaby".
"Toey" is a good Australian word but the usage during my lifetime varies a little from your "nervous," "aroused," or "frisky". It's more like "ready to go and just can't wait", or "straining at the leash" if you can see the difference.
And one last point - the foam tube for keeping a beer cool is a "stubby cooler". In the past ,Australian beer bottles were large (750ml) bottles. Years ago, in response to the introduction of cans, the "stubby" bottle (350ml, with dimensions similar to a can) was introduced. Hence the "stubby cooler" which of course, accommodates cans as well as bottles.
I really like gaft. Till now, I've been pleased with the phrase the gift that keeps on taking. I am unlikely to abandon the phrase, but I will probably give preference to gaft and, when asked, say "you know, the gift that keeps on taking."