Gray - grey

From Hull AWE
(Redirected from Grey)
Jump to: navigation, search

Although the two spellings gray and grey were interchangeable into the twentieth century, AWE recommends that some distinctions be observed.

  • In British English, the preferred spelling of the adjective and common noun, the name of the colour, is grey.
  • In American English, the standard spelling is gray.
    • Both versions of English allow the 'other' spelling as a permitted alternative.
  • As a proper noun, surnames exist with both spellings. It is important in academic writing to use the appropriate spelling for the person under discussion.
    • Gray seems to be more common, as in the poet Thomas Gray (1716–1771). Gray's Inn, one of the Inns of Court in London, is spelled thus, though its founder and eponym, Reginald de Grey, 1st Baron Grey de Wilton (1240-1308) (or perhaps another member of his powerful (and numerous) family) used the other, more aristocratic version. The fictional Dorian Gray in the eponymous novel by Oscar Wilde has the '-a-' version of the name, as do Lucy Gray in Wordsworth's poem and the eponymous heroine of Sebastian Faulks' 1999 novel Charlotte Gray..
    • Grey is the spelling for various aristocratic people, such as Lady Jane Grey, the Earldom of Grey (Charles, the second Earl, was Prime Minister of the U.K. from 1830 to 1834), Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon, Britain's Foreign Secretary from 1905 to 1916. It also seems more common in fictional contexts, e,g, Agnes Grey by Charlotte Bronte, Vivian Grey, by Disraeli and Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L.James.
      • Earl Grey tea is named for the Prime Minister.
In equestrian circles, horses with white coats are called greys ('grays' in America). A cavalry regiment in the British Army is known as the Scots Greys, being mounted on grey horses exclusively, it appears, since 1693 when their title was Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons. They were known unofficially as 'the Greys' since before 1707. In 1877, they became the 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys). This was inverted in 1921 to The Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons). Cf. the Bays.