Transcript of “Why Are Insulated Drink Sleeves Called “Koozies”?”
Welcome to A Way with Words.
Hey, how are you? I’m Jay from Marana, Arizona.
Hey, Jay, welcome to the show. What can we do for you?
A couple of months ago, my nephew was visiting me, and he asked me for something cool to drink.
I went to the fridge, I pulled out a can, and then I pulled out an insulated sleeve to put it in to keep it cold.
And he screeches at me, and he goes, “Oh a koozie.” I’m going, “Oh what? You know I’m from New York, I’ve heard everything. I never heard koozie before.”
So I i looked at it and I said, “Okay, I’ve always called them insulated sleeves.” And after I gave it to him, I went and started doing my homework, and i I tracked koozie to two places.
Number one, there is actually a trademark on the term koozie here in the United States, capital K-O-O-Z-I-E.
And then I tracked it back to Australia, where they call these canned coolers koozies over there.
But then I tracked it even further back over to England many years ago when they used to put their tea kettles on their potbelly stoves and heat up the water.
And when they took them off to keep the water hot, the women had knitted these woolen caps and they put them over the teapots and they called them cozies.
And I can understand that.
You know, on a cold day, you want to kind of get cozy under a blanket.
But I haven’t been able to get any further back than that.
I don’t know where the term came from.
And I got to tell you, I never heard koozie before.
Jay, you made a really good start here.
Let me break some of that down and correct a few things here.
First, let’s work backward from that.
First, they didn’t used to put cozies on their tea kettles.
They still do.
Second of all, the men and the women knit them.
It’s not just a female thing.
Also, they put them on eggs as well.
They can have an egg cozy.
And it’s not only the British that do it.
You can find these throughout the world.
People like to keep their kettles warm.
The Australian koozie comes from the American koozie.
It’s not something they invented, although they do have stubby holders.
S-T-U-B-B-I-E for the stubby is a short bottle of beer.
Those date from around the mid-1970s.
And the trademark that you found dates to, it was first filed in 1979 by, I believe, by somebody by the last name, McGough, M-C-G-O-U-G-H.
It was first misfiled in 1979, then later refiled and finally granted in 1981.
But then it expired or lapsed in 2001.
I believe it was refiled, and it’s now owned by the Bic family of brands, B-I-C, the people who do the ink pens.
Yeah, that’s K-O-O-Z-I-E.
But it looks like it’s directly related to the cozy, as you noted, the tea cozy or the egg cozy.
Yeah, well, I’ve got to tell you, I was stunned when I heard this because I’m going, “What is a koozie?”
I’ve never heard this before.
And, of course, in the last couple of weeks, I’ve heard koozie all over the place.
Yeah, always, right?
That’s how it goes.
Yeah, I mean, the other night I was listening to Rachel Maddow and she said koozie.
And I said, “Wait a second. No, I haven’t heard this ever.”
And all of a sudden, it’s popping up everywhere.
Well, Jay, now you know.
Well, I appreciate it.
I figured if anyone’s going to be able to give me any information on this, it’s going to be you, too.
Jay, thank you so much for your story and your entertainment.
We appreciate it.
Okay, bye-bye.
Take care of yourself.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
