Until this post, I didn't notice there were two spellings. I gravitate to grey. I think it's more common outside of the US: "Earl Grey Tea"; "Fifty Shades of Grey"; "The Grey Zone".
But there is "The Picture of Dorian Gray". But then that is a name not a colour.
Sometimes in the waves of change we find our new direction...
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Depends on whether you speak English or American...
A man in possession of a wooden spoon must be in want of a pot to stir.
Oddly enough, Gray as a surname seems to be more common that Grey, even in the UK.Originally Posted by Taylor
Wikipedia has some slightly helpful info on this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_(surname)
It seems that some earlier versions appeared as "gręg", particularly in Scotland, so this may go part way to explaining the discrepancy. This leaves me wondering if the surname Greig is another derivation. The US version of English tends to rely a little more on spelling some words as they sound.
I am a 'Grey person, but I find 'Gray' people quite acceptable. The proposal of the OP to use one for personal and the other for impersonal description, however, seems wrong. Choose one and stick to it. The practical answer is choose the one your spellcheck accepts.
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Readers will understand either - use whichever you like consistently.
Yea, I didn't know the difference until it was almost spelled out for me (gray = America; grey = England).
Though, I have always liked the spelling of grey better (as well as less American ways of spelling, like doughnuts. Though, the extra u in certain words are silly). I have been primarily using grey for 5 years and nobody has really given much thought to it. XD and I'm from America. Though, my American writing software tends to flag grey as incorrect if I don't add it to the dictionary.
I imagine either is fine as long as you're consistent with your localization. For example, you might write "the colour grey" or "the color gray," but not "the colour gray."
"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." - Benjamin Franklin
"I do not over-intellectualize the production process. I try to keep it simple: Tell the damned story." - Tom Clancy
Both work, but grey is pretty much universally used in the UK now, even if Samuel Johnson used gray in the past.
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