Grey or gray? (with bonus baby animal video!)

[MercyA]

What's your preference? Why?

Also, here's a cute video of gray / grey elephants to inspire you. 🙂

 

Edited October 15, 2021 by MercyA

[TechWife]

Hmm - I answered both before it computed that you were asking specifically about the use of the word as it relates to color. For color, I use “gray.” When I use it as an adjective that isn’t a color,  I use “grey.”
 

Elephants are gray.

There are grey areas in ethics. 
 

The sky is gray.

She’s in a grey mood - hopefully she’ll cheer up. 

Edited October 15, 2021 by TechWife

[Katy]

Gray is American English. Grey is British English.

[Loowit]

I use grey.  For some reason it just looks better to me.

[maize]

I much prefer grey.

 

[Miss Tick]

37 minutes ago, Katy said:

Gray is American English. Grey is British English.

Yes, and while I wholly disagree with their stance on aluminum/aluminium, I'm a bit partial to grey. It seems more gentle than gray.

Edited October 15, 2021 by SusanC
made my stance less grey

[MooCow]

Boy did I need this!! 

[MEmama]

I've always spelled it grey. I also cross my Zs. 
 

DS spent his early learning to spell years when we lived in Canada, so he mostly uses British spelling. His freshman AP history teacher (who is Canadian) tried without success to Americanize his spelling; eventually the teacher just gave up. DS is in university in Ireland now so I guess it all worked out. Lol
 

He also learned units of measurements in Canada and because they use a mishmash of metric and imperial he learned them simultaneously. 🙂 

[MEmama]

10 minutes ago, SusanC said:

Yes, and while I wholly disagree with their stance on aluminum/aluminium, I'm a bit partial to grey. It seems more gentle than gray.

Unfortunately they do make a good point about aluminium, though. I’m afraid we North Americans are just in the wrong there. Lol

[Selkie]

I’ve always spelled it grey, probably because that is the more common spelling in the horse world.

[iamonlyone]

I prefer "grey" but spell it "gray" because I am an editor (American) and feel compelled.

[Jean in Newcastle]

2 hours ago, Katy said:

Gray is American English. Grey is British English.

Exactly.  But I grew up as an American reading British books (ie actually published by British publishers, not the ones for American audiences.)  I accommodate American readers with gray but actually prefer grey. 

[Starr]

It depends on if you bought your children their first dictionaries while on a day trip to Ottawa. lol

[gck21]

Gray is a family name for me, so the color is spelled grey!

Edited October 16, 2021 by gck21

[Elizabeth86]

I’ve always preferred gray. That’s just how I remember being taught as a young child.

[Laura Corin]

8 hours ago, Katy said:

Gray is American English. Grey is British English.

That's what I've always thought. I write grey. 

[Melissa Louise]

Handily, I had reason to write it in a message just now, so I can confirm I write 'grey'. Not sure why. Assuming I was taught to spell it that way. 

[Farrar]

Sometimes I like spelling it grey. I feel like... is there a Madeleine L'Engle book where a character muses on this? I'm not sure, but I think so. And says that grey feels more rich. I can't remember at all what was said, but I came away feeling grey is the color of a stormy sky, while gray feels more flat like the huge between black and white on a dull page.

But I know it's just an American/British spelling difference. Grey is never "correct" in an American publication and vice versa for gray in the UK, Australia, etc.

[wintermom]

If you use 'grey' you should also call it the colour grey. 😅