[Ads-l] "Grey" in AmE

[Wilson Gray]

All of my literate life, I've found it necessary to specify, "That's 'Gray'
with an _A_." But, as we say in the 'hood, "That's just me," roughly
equivalent to Larry's "YMMV."

FWIW, I have the impression that the name of the color was once uniformly
spelled _grey_ on both sides of the Atlantic, whereas the surname could be
either "Gray" or "Grey," with the latter being the default spelling. But I
wouldn't bet money on it.

In like manner, I am also under the impression that, nowadays, American
spelling uses only _gray_, unless circumstances clearly preclude it.
"Tarzan" is the alias of Lord John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke, Sixth Earl
of Greystoke, never spelled "Graystoke."

On Fri, Mar 4, 2016 at 2:12 PM, Charles Law <chaslaw at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles Law <chaslaw at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Grey" in AmE
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> If you sey so, I agree.
>
>
>
>
> On 3/4/16, 6:56 PM, "American Dialect Society on behalf of Mark Mandel" <
> ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU on behalf of thnidu at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> >Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> >Subject:      "Grey" in AmE
>
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >Part of a thread on a copyeditors' list I belong to:
> >
> >Original post:
> >On Mar 4, 2016 12:10 PM
> >Subject: "Grey" not dead yet
> >>
> >> From the wild:
> >>
> >> "Grey is the new beige."
> >>
> >> ---Crate & Barrel
> >
> http://www.crateandbarrel.com/special-features/how-we-create-natural-mix/1
> >
> >> Maybe they like the visual effect of the e's in "grey," "beige," and
> >"neutral."
> >
> >My reply:
> >So do I. Native AmE speaker, but I've used that particular British
> spelling
> >for many years, for just that reason.
> >
> >Others:
> >
> >> I'd estimate that about a third of my American clients (mostly fiction
> >writers), even when we specify AmE and use CMOS [Chicago Manual of Style]
> >and M-W [Merriam-Webster], the whole nine yards, prefer grey over gray.
> >It's fascinating to me, a UK-born Anglo-Canadian who has always used grey
> >but has no problem switching to gray.
> >
> >>> Grey is alive and well, even in AmE. I just sent a book to the printer
> >for which that spelling was specified on the style sheet. US author. US
> >copyeditor (not me, in this case). People are entitled to their
> preference,
> >non?
> >
> >Mark Mandel
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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