A dear friend sent me a postcard, which I just received today. The message contained a word that reminded me of the whole grey/gray debate. This friend used the word "cozy", which is one of those words guaranteed to reveal my vacillating nature. I seldom spell it the same way twice, but probably use ess more often than zed. How about the rest of y'all?

Sorry, I goofed and clicked on wrong thing, trying to answer you Max!

Odd, normally I'm not ambivalent about spellings - it's one thing or the other. But Max, you've got me thinking. If I write that someone's feeling warm and comfortable, I'd use "cosy". If I were looking for something to keep the teapot warm, I'd describe a "cozy".

Now, I know that there's no logical difference, but there you are! Damn, what do they put in the water in Hastings?

. If I write that someone's feeling warm and comfortable, I'd use "cosy". If I were looking for something to keep the teapot warm, I'd describe a "cozy".

Ah, but what if you invited one of your admirers to share a cuppa in your nice warm house? Would not that be a case of having a cosy fan to tea?

[doing best Liza Minnelli impression:]

It's cozy with a zee
Not cozy with an ess
'Cuz cozy with an ess
Goes ssss not zzzz

I've never seen "cozy" spelled with an ess in the US.

I'm with Ann.. i've never seen it spelled with an S. but now i'm curious: how would you essers spell cozies, cozied, cozying, coziness? Do any of them warrant the Z?

while i'm thinking about it, i'm quite sure there are a few words that vacillate between S and Z depending on suffix, but i can't think of a single one. anyone??

Dear Max: Which came first the pun or the cozy/cosy question? For which dictionary says only that "cosy" is British.

My experience and dictionary has "cosy" as British and "cozy" as US. I think recent wider exposure to original materials from round the world is making us far more acceptant of variant spellings, and variant word usage in general. This then leads to ambivalence in our own usage. We sometimes impose as individuals specific difference in our own usage; who knows why. These differences are sometimes more general (e.g. program in UK is for computers; programme is a sequence of events).
Rod
PS I just noticed that Enigma wanted Ukraine for UK!!!! Which reminds me that when my nephew applied to US colleges for a PhD., he had to satisfy the English language criteria. Being British, he was accepted by most establishments, except one. When they were asked by phone what the problem was, they replied that the country (prounounced as) "Uck" wasn't on their exempt list.

Whereas Cosima von Tutte was W.A. Mozart's secret lover. He was so buzy™ transcribing the music that kept pouring into his mental ears that he didn't have time to actually® dally with her so he wrote her an opera instead.

It's almost cozy in New England.
The temp has risen to all of 50 degrees today. It's April 20th and they got a foot of snow two days ago just ten miles north of me ... we got a dusting. Reedikalus!

Spring has sprung,
the grass has riz,
I wonder where the flowers is?

wow

I know what ya mean, wow. Got up into the high 40s here the other day. People were running around in shorts and tank tops.

---Non me eges ut scias e quo parte flat ventus

Which came first the pun or the cozy/cosy question

The question. The pun occurred to me as I read CapK's post aloud, and got thinking, "hmm, 'cozy", 'tea' what can I do with this." The sooner our resident punmeister is back to full form, the better.

Dear Max: I'm glad to hear that the pun came second, which is more of a tribute to your talent, and was not a product of deviousness. Although deviousness can be admirable in this forum.

The pun occurred to me as I read CapK's post aloud, and got thinking, "hmm, 'cozy", 'tea' what can I do
with this."

Do you like this opera, and do you eat beans prior to attending it, thereby making the Cosi fan tooti?[holding nose emoticon}

Spring has sprung,
the grass has riz,
I wonder where the flowers is?

Variant version that I have long enjoyed:

'Da spring is sprung
Da grass is riz
I wonder where
Da boidies is?'

'Da boids is on the wing.'
'But that's absoid!
I always thought
Da wing was on da boid!'

Oh, Bridget! Another good one!
Thanks.
wow

A long time ago some friends persuaded Jimmy ("Schnozzle") Durante to go with them to a health resort in upstate New York. They got him out of bed at daybreak to go walking. As they went along, they noticed that Durante had picked up a big stick and was banging every tree he went past. When they asked him why he was doing that, he answered: "When Durante's awake, no boid sleeps!"