Gray/grey

[James E. Clapp]

Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>
> An analogy:
>
> With respect to a driver's document or medical credentials, one might
> decide: "I will always use 'licence' to mean one issued by a nation,
> 'license' to mean one issued by a state of the US, and 'lisense' to refer
> to one issued by a local authority." One could use this ridiculous
> distinction faithfully throughout his life without any problem, and no one
> would know that he had this policy. There might be a denotative distinction
> in his personal diary, but the distinction would not be conveyed to anyone
> else.

Or as the OED puts it:  "As the word [gray/grey] is both etymologically and
phonetically one, it is undesirable to treat its graphic forms as differing
in signification."

James E. Clapp