A recent discussion with lyonesse reminded me that both "greys" are correct though I prefer the "e" version. It's glittering and dark-feeling, twilight, unlike the "a" version which makes me think of crayons.
Huh! To me, "grey" is soft and kitteny, or possibly foggy and mysterious, whereas "gray" is either mundane or forbidding. I'd call "grey" lighter than "gray". I actually strategically use one or the other depending on what I'm writing about.
Also, "dialog" doesn't seem as strange to me as "monolog". "Monolog"!
See below -- hell, also see above! There aren't really any Brits reading my journal at the moment, and people seem to prefer "grey", suggesting that it's not foreign.
I actually looked it up in a dictionary. The one I used (American Heritage) lists them as alternates for each other, but doesn't give one the designation "chiefly British" as it does for "colour."
To me, 'gray' is bluer and cooler than 'grey'. I tend to use 'grey' by default. (And now both words are looking extremely peculiar, as usually happens when you see them a lot in one place)
Actually, the American Heritage dictionary and Merriam-Webster -- both American dictionaries -- list "grey" as an acceptable variant spelling of "gray". With "colour (http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=colour&x=0&y=0), for example, M-W notes that it is a "chiefly British" variant; not so with "grey (http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=grey&x=0&y=0)". Same thing with the American Heritage.
I think there are cases where "grey" is clearly correct (notably "greyhound" and "Earl Grey tea") and not just cooler. I am, however, a fan of "steel gray."
The colors that immediately spring to mind for gray are darker than those for grey, although I have no idea why that would be.
Thunderclouds are gray, but I-might-rain clouds are grey. Horses are grey (both the ones who really are and the ones who are white). Hair is gray. Suits are usually grey. Also days. Pewter is gray.
"And oh, I feel so blue today/ I call this mood Lady Gray./ Blue is much too bright to be/ the way I feel, these days..." --"Lady Gray", a sadly forgotten (1978) song on Cheryl Ladd
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Date: 2005-09-16 08:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-16 08:12 pm (UTC)Also, "dialog" doesn't seem as strange to me as "monolog". "Monolog"!
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Date: 2005-09-16 08:22 pm (UTC)And since you didn't ask which is *correct*, merely which is *better*, I HAD to pick grey.
It's allll about the feel.
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Date: 2005-09-16 08:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-16 10:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-16 08:25 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2005-09-16 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2005-09-17 01:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-17 07:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-16 09:01 pm (UTC)"grey" is UK spellin
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Date: 2005-09-16 09:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-16 08:49 pm (UTC)The colors that immediately spring to mind for gray are darker than those for grey, although I have no idea why that would be.
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Date: 2005-09-16 08:51 pm (UTC)The colors that immediately spring to mind for gray are darker than those for grey, although I have no idea why that would be.
Me too. I love that.
A more subjective list
Date: 2005-09-17 12:57 am (UTC)Horses are grey (both the ones who really are and the ones who are white).
Hair is gray.
Suits are usually grey. Also days.
Pewter is gray.
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Date: 2005-09-16 09:07 pm (UTC)Mostly Tolkien, I think.
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Date: 2005-09-16 09:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-16 09:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-16 11:57 pm (UTC)And, while I never have a dialogue about dialog boxes, it could happen.
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Date: 2005-09-17 03:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-17 02:28 am (UTC)But seeing grey and gray all these timesover...well, damn, it's such a weird word either way!