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#26876 04/20/01 01:45 AM
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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?


#26877 04/20/01 02:15 AM
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Sorry, I goofed and clicked on wrong thing, trying to answer you Max!



#26878 04/20/01 08:06 AM
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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?



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#26879 04/20/01 08:25 AM
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. 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?


#26880 04/20/01 01:15 PM
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[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.


#26881 04/20/01 01:29 PM
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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??


#26882 04/20/01 01:31 PM
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Dear Max: Which came first the pun or the cozy/cosy question? For which dictionary says only that "cosy" is British.


#26883 04/20/01 01:57 PM
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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.


#26884 04/20/01 02:05 PM
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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.


#26885 04/20/01 05:37 PM
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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




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