# Gray or Grey? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 24, 2004, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gray-or-grey/265908 "2004-09-24T17:55:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gray-or-grey/265908/21 "2004-09-25T00:57:01Z")
I am Gray, not Grey. Oh, and **Polycarp**? It’s actually _Mithlond_, so the Grey/Gray don’t enter into it! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gray-or-grey/265908/22 "2004-09-25T01:12:00Z")
I’m an American, but it’s even money whether I’ll spell it ‘gray’ or ‘grey’. I’ll even spell it both ways in the same sentence or paragraph, just to mix it up a bit. Nobody can tell me I’m wrong, after all, and a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of ignorant copyeditors. > [@Larry Mudd](#): > > It’s a safe bet you can blame W.R. Hearst’s support of spelling reform for your colour confusion. Enuf of this! Everyone blames Hearst, tho very few of his reforms caught on. (Were those among Hearst’s reforms? I think so, but now I’m all confused. The grey newsprint all fades to a gray cloud in my bad memory.) ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gray-or-grey/265908/23 "2004-09-25T02:41:27Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > Now if I could just turn the grey/colour into some useful mnemonic… A is for American, E is for English. Doesn’t get much simpler than that. ---
**Author:** ![TitoBenito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2acd7d/32.png) [@TitoBenito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TitoBenito)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gray-or-grey/265908/24 "2004-09-25T03:06:51Z")
Did a report on gray wolves in the sixth grade and called them grey wolves in my paper because one of the sources I had was british or candian. My teacher took off a half point for every time I wrote grey. I argued that how could 60 million Brits be wrong on the spelling of a word that the made up. If I saw that bitch today I’d probably spit on her. GREY GREY GREY!! ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gray-or-grey/265908/25 "2004-09-25T03:30:08Z")
A Gray (Gy) is the SI unit for absorbed ionizing radiation. 1 Gray = 1 J/kg. Not really relevant, but there you go. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gray-or-grey/265908/26 "2004-09-25T03:38:59Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > A is for American, E is for English. Doesn’t get much simpler than that. So if you speak American English, it’s graey. And if you don’t speak at all, it’s gry. (…which is a sound that doesn’t echo, and no one knows why!) ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gray-or-grey/265908/27 "2004-09-25T04:46:50Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > A is for American, E is for English. Doesn’t get much simpler than that. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Xgemina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/b5e925/32.png) [@Xgemina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xgemina)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gray-or-grey/265908/28 "2004-09-25T05:58:46Z")
> [@](#): > > A is for American, E is for English. Doesn’t get much simpler than that. But, but, when I was in the Army I was in 3rd Brigade (Grey Wolf) 1st Cavalry Division and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t in the British Army. The US Army Institute of Heraldry must be closet anglophiles. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gray-or-grey/265908.md?page=1)