Is there a visual difference between grey and gray? The grey spelling is more common in the UK; gray is more common in the U.S. Many feel that grey has a delicate, silvery tint, while gray is more opaque, perhaps with warmer tones of red or brown. Martha and Grant disagree about this one. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Grey vs. Gray”
We got an email from Mark Jensen in Arcata, California, who wanted to know, Grant, the difference between gray and gray. That is G-R-E-Y and G-R-A-Y. When do you use which? That’s a great question. It’s a great question. We’ve handled this before, and there’s much furious discussion about this online because some people believe that there’s a difference between these two words.
I’m raising my hand. You do. I feel that difference. What’s the difference? Yes, yes, yes. The difference is that GREY feels more British to me and GREY feels more American to me, and the way to remember that is capital E for England and E in the gray and capital A for America, A in the gray.
Yes, but that has nothing to do with the meaning of the words. I feel there is a difference in the meaning. But what is it? What is the difference in the meaning? I think that gray, G-R-E-Y, is a more silvery gray, and G-R-A-Y is more opaque, more of a combination of white and black.
Interesting. And other people feel that way. They do, but they disagree with you exactly what kind of grays or colors might be meant. You think? Yeah, a lot of the people who come up with a difference for these, they’re independent. There’s no, like, mass agreement that one should mean one thing and one should mean another.
Well, it’s a gray area. I knew you were going to say that. There is, in the Oxford English Dictionary, one of my favorite editorial notes of all time, where they talk about the history of the spelling of gray, and they talk about… I’m sorry, I’m laughing at the OED’s greatest hits. Your favorite editorial notes. Bring it on.
You know, Nerd Club of the Year, join me here every week. I got my t-shirt on. Yeah, she does. She actually literally does. It says Nerd Club of the Year. Yes, I love this. Let’s do the handshake. But one of my favorite notes in the Oxford English Dictionary is about this.
Okay, bring it on. It’s all these notes about how the A-Y spelling of gray used to be more common, and most English dictionary editors and lexicographers preferred it for years. And then over time, the E-Y spelling has become more British, and the A-Y spelling is more American.
Right. No dispute there. But what’s really interesting, they have this wonderful line. Many correspondents said that they used the two forms with a difference of meaning or application. The distinction most generally recognized being that G-R-E-Y denotes a more delicate or lighter tense than G-R-A-Y. Others consider the difference to be that G-R-A-Y is a warmer color.
Yes! Or that it has a mixture of red or brown. Yes! Yes, but it’s completely invented. There’s no difference. No, no, there is. I feel it. And they conclude in this note with this even more wonderful line. Only lexicographers write like this. It is undesirable to treat its graphic forms as differing in signification. In other words, there’s no difference.
There is a difference. There is a difference. I challenge you to go out and buy some Earl Grey tea with an A. Mark from Arcata, who sent us this letter, thank you very much. We don’t often get to have this kind of fun. And Expose Martha is being incorrect in a really obvious way.
All right, all you grey fans out there who see at least two shades of grey, maybe not 50, but two shades of grey. Let us know about it. What do you think? Is there a difference between G-R-E-Y and G-R-A-Y? Back me up, folks. 877-929-9673. Words@waywordradio.org.
