Grey or Gray?

[sakurakira]

The distinction between British grey and U.S. gray developed 20c. Gray as figurative for "Southern troops in the U.S. Civil War" is first recorded 1863, in reference to their uniform color.

From Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper.

I would just spell it according to the region you went to school in. If you learned British English, you write grey, if American English, you write gray... unless it's a person's name, then it's however they spell it.

It's the same line of thinking of colour vs color, or theatre vs theater.

But I am not British, so the rule doesn't apply to me.

It depends on the system of English that you learned, not your nationality. For example, if you are from India, a former British colony, you probably would have learned British English.

Of course you could just disregard all of that and spell gray, color, theater, etc however you want. However if you are American, people would probably question your choice of spelling, especially in a work or school environment.

[jaza]

Rep the maple syrup

see, us canadians dont need no rules

Yep

[Wuzzie]

I say we declare war over this.

[metallicamaster3]

My fellow Aqua-Softians,

it has come to my attention, that insurgents from over the internet, apparently from other countries such as Australia and England, has violently outbursted with war over the spelling of the American English word, Gray.

They believe that the original spelling of the word is Grey, speaking with weird accents and for some reason throwing a U in color and favorite.

I ask for congress and the commander(s) in chief (Timan and NC....and jef) to declare a verbal war against these heretics!

This is NOT Sparta!!

Your fellow Aqua-Softian,

Phantom_Lord

(Let the rants and flames begin! xD)

[thehundredthone]

It's have violently, and I doubt outbursted is a word. So there.

[Ojalord]

It's have violently, and I doubt outbursted is a word. So there.

QFT.

[jaza]

Lol !! This will never end...

[wizard]

I am starting to see why instructors are so apathetic to this argument.

[mps69]

Just to add fuel to the fire, hot from Wikipedia.

Grey became the established British spelling in the 20th century, pace Dr. Johnson and others, but a minor variant in American English, according to dictionaries. Canadians tend to prefer grey. Non-cognate greyhound is never grayhound.

[bh2]

What about a pair of socks that are grey in colour?... riddle me ree, answer me thee.

[huMAC]

I have always spell it with an a.

G-R-A-Y

[bh2]

Yes... I can see your spelling is exceptional.

[KAWSquared]

^^ maybe we should start spelling beer with an e to piss off bh2

[sakurakira]

Yes... I can see your spelling is exceptional.

LOL!

Really though, when it comes to writing on the internet I don't think anyone cares. Almost everyone on the internet these days has conversed with, played a game with, or seen posts written by people in other countries. Frankly, I am frequently amazed at the amount of people I see who are from non-English-speaking countries who can write English well... and sometimes more coherently than native speakers. You don't see that in America regarding foreign languages, unless your immediate family speaks something else.

[japp]

grey is the English spelling, while gray is the American spelling

[TheReaper24]

"White" or "wite"? It's all a bit too much, y'know?

[Bman409]

I've always spelled it "Grey" I've known about the other spellin' but it just seems incorrect spellin' to me for some reason. Im more confortable with "Grey."

[dennisalcayde]

ive always writen it as GRAY... as im residing in a commonwealth country, i get used to add U to some british english words and changing Z to S (as in organiSe from organiZe)... hmmm, thats why English is so hard....

[SbuxBlaze]

ive always writen it as GRAY... as im residing in a commonwealth country, i get used to add U to some british english words and changing Z to S (as in organiSe from organiZe)... hmmm, thats why English is so hard....

yeah, theres different types lol.

[Konstantino]

I'm going to have to go with "grey", simply because of the fact that it doesn't look awkward in my mind. When I see it, it looks as it sounds. When I see "gray", I usually see "gay" in my head and then it's quickly corrected. (There's my weird mind for you).

[Bman409]

I'm going to have to go with "grey", simply because of the fact that it doesn't look awkward in my mind. When I see it, it looks as it sounds. When I see "gray", I usually see "gay" in my head and then it's quickly corrected. (There's my weird mind for you).

Wow.. you see/read "gray" and you think of the word "gay". Seems to me someone is finally decidin' to come out the closet. lol jk

[Levi- The perfectionist]

Come here Konstantino!

[metallicamaster3]

Holy bump batman!

[The iApple]

Grey is for colour as Gray is for a name

I didn't knew that you can use both terms. As with the word colour. My grammar teacher says that the correct way to spell colour is with U, but americans are sooo lazy that they don't include the u and just write 'Color'.

Edited April 25, 2009 by Mauintosh

[holo13x]

really weird how different spelled words mean different meaning to poeple