Grey vs Gray

[Phyrebrat]

In the UK we favour grey, as opposed to the USA's gray.

I wonder if anyone here has had any edits suggested by either countries' editors when it comes to this word. I can imagine grey features a lot in my writing as it's such a strong or suggestive word for emotions, weather, personality etc.

I use - and see - gray quite a bit, but only in terms of surnames.

If I were to use Grey as a surname, it would look odd on paper to me; as odd as using gray to denote colour.

This is a nice link about it.

pH

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I always use grey, and I don't ever remember any copy editor wanting to change it (although I always expected that someday one of them would).

 

[Kathy Trueman]

I use grey exclusively, but not because I'm American. I just like the look of the word better. I was shocked when Word flagged it as a misspelled word. Stupid Word.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I'm an American who prefers grey. As Kathy just said (welcome, Kathy!), it looks better. Softer, more ...err... grey. Gray is a hard word, and the color is soft.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

In the UK we favour grey, as opposed to the USA's gray.

I wonder if anyone here has had any edits suggested by either countries' editors when it comes to this word. I can imagine grey features a lot in my writing as it's such a strong or suggestive word for emotions, weather, personality etc.

I use - and see - gray quite a bit, but only in terms of surnames.

If I were to use Grey as a surname, it would look odd on paper to me; as odd as using gray to denote colour.

This is a nice link about it.

pH

My aunt and uncle's surname is Grey so it does exist. No copy editor has ever changed any of mine to gray and i'd wince and most likely refuse that change.

 

[RX-79G]

I'm an American who prefers grey. As Kathy just said (welcome, Kathy!), it looks better. Softer, more ...err... grey. Gray is a hard word, and the color is soft.

That's funny - I like grey because the A in gray is rounder and softer - more evocative of color and life. While the E in grey is drier - a flatter vowel that reminds me more of winter and desolation.

But I'm not going to fight my American spell checker endlessly.

 

[Mouse]

Use whatever you like as long as it's correct and you're consistent. My publishers are American so my greys got changed to grays whether I liked it or not. You can argue with editors, by the way. Sometimes you'll win. (I got to keep 'jumper' instead of 'sweater,' and an interrobang, but I wasn't allowed to keep B&B no matter how good my reasoning and it was all changed to B and B which looks - and sounds - weird to me).

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Use whatever you like as long as it's correct and you're consistent. My publishers are American so my greys got changed to grays whether I liked it or not. You can argue with editors, by the way. Sometimes you'll win. (I got to keep 'jumper' instead of 'sweater,' and an interrobang, but I wasn't allowed to keep B&B no matter how good my reasoning and it was all changed to B and B which looks - and sounds - weird to me).

That's bizarre. Nobody in America (except apparently your editor) uses B and B. I've literally never seen that until this moment. What a weirdo.

I believe I've asked Teresa before if I could get away with changing grays to greys while at the same time Americanizing the stories. She said no.

 

[Mouse]

I did change them all back to B&B in the paperback version, as I kept the rights to that so released it myself. Oh, the joy at changing those back!

 

[Phyrebrat]

it was all changed to B and B which looks - and sounds - weird to me).

It does. It looks atrocious. What a div.

pH

 

[RX-79G]

(I got to keep 'jumper' instead of 'sweater,' and an interrobang, but I wasn't allowed to keep B&B no matter how good my reasoning and it was all changed to B and B which looks - and sounds - weird to me).

I would have directed this editor to the content of B&B websites:
Top B&Bs, Inns, & Romantic Hotels | BedandBreakfast.com

"Search the world's largest B&B travel site"

 

[Mouse]

I used many sources to try to persuade her. She wasn't having it. House style always wins.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Fortunately, not all fiction publishers have a house style.

 

[tinkerdan]

This is one of those words that I've always felt was in a gray area.
But no,no; it's a totally grey area. How could I be so wrong.

I do think it is a style thing as much as a regional; and I've always felt the reason they tell you which style guide they use is so that you might be aware of these things so you can say, 'pay attention to this because it's that way for a reason and leave it alone'.

 

[Phyrebrat]

The point of me posting this - or rather the catalyst - was writing about a river fish in pt 3 of SG which I've just started:

... whilst steely grayling hovering in the side pools rose to the surface...

I'd initially over-written it as 'steely grey grayling' and then deleted the redundant 'grey' but it made me think of why a British fish that was probably so named after its colour was spelt with an 'a' instead of an 'e'.

pH

 

[HareBrain]

"Gray" was the Middle English spelling, kept in the fish name and by the Americans, while we Brits changed to "grey" for some reason.

 

[The Judge]

I was just coming to tell him that!

 

[HareBrain]

If you didn't carry around that big sword and those scales, you'd move faster and might get in first sometimes.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Now ... on to opah... presumably from 'opal' ?



pH

 

[HareBrain]

It comes from the French eau pas -- "not water". This was originally the name for all aquatic creatures -- people didn't bother separating out the types of fish, they were only interested in distinguishing them from the sea itself. But while all the other fish got their own names eventually, with the opah the original stuck.