Latest Articles by Sarah Canice Funke
...because when you write it down, you just can't remember ever having seen those letters in that order before?, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
And so I wonder: is it "gray" or "grey"?
They both look right to me.
They both look wrong to me.
Wikipedia tells me both are correct.
But I hate having to choose. Such a burden is placed on the writer when spelling is made a matter of personal choice. There are no omens.
Gray is American, grey is British. We named our son Lowen Grey giving him the same vowel configuration as his birth month, November. And the e spelling has a more distinguished look to me.
Posted by: damien at 26.07.06 19:15Random fact of the day: In addition to having the vowel sequence in his name perfectly aligned with the vowel configuration in his birthmonth, Lowen also has the distinction of being exactly 1 year and a day younger than myself. Hooray for November birthdays.
Posted by: funke at 26.07.06 19:50Gray is cheery. Grey is melancholy. I've always preferred gray because grey makes me think of overcast days. But now that it has been mentioned, grey does look more refined.
Posted by: Heather at 26.07.06 20:06Gray is for hair or horses. Grey is for dresses and spats.
Posted by: bob at 27.07.06 14:28I found your blog on scotsalumni and enjoyed reading it. I never pondered how appropriate it was that "grey" not only refers to moral ambiguities and quandaries in the world ("shades of gray") but creates spelling ambiguities in writing. Word and world are represented in shades of gray/grey.
Posted by: Leopoldtulip at 27.07.06 15:28