Over at Lileks.com, my close personal friend* James Lileks was complaining about paint today. He’s repainting his office, and can’t seem to get the color he wants, once it actually dries. I have no comment on that subject. I moved into a pink office in the library several years ago, and have just lived with it because getting it repainted would be a lot of work.
What caught my attention was that, by my count, he used the word “gray” twice, but he spelled it “grey” both times.
I’ve seen this spelling come up more and more frequently lately, and it amuses me. All my life (which is another way of saying “from time immemorial”) I was taught that “gray” is the American spelling and “grey” is how the English do it. But “grey” seems to be winning out now. I suppose that’s because of the Fifty Shades of Grey books.
This may surprise you, but I’m not actually unhappy about this development. I’ve always thought spelling “grey” with an “e” was kind of cool. There’s something a tad bleaker, colder about that spelling. Grayer, you might say. Or greyer.
I remember reading an interview, probably in Writer’s Digest, with Colleen McCullough quite a few years ago. She was the author of The Thorn Birds, which was a big deal at the time. She mentioned that she always spelled gray with an “a,” except when describing people’s eyes. Gray eyes, she felt, should be spelled with an “e.”
I sympathized, though I’ve always used the “a” spelling myself. I have enough affectations already, without adopting English spellings.
But maybe “grey” will win.
I can live with it, in my grey old age.
*Editor’s Note: This is a lie.
I lived in England for a couple of years in a previous life. Since then I not only refer to the colour of my facial hair with an e but I randomly add a u to words that most people on this side of the pond spell with “or”. Just to be weird.
I think I usually spell “grey” with an “e”, but then I wonder about it. No, actually the only times I wonder about it is when I’m trying to find something with that word in its title. And like GreyBeard, somehow one or two words, like colours, have sneaked (or is it snuck) into my lexicon with u’s added to them.
I had a flirtation with grey when I was an eighth grader. I also liked colour, theatre, and bleu. I thought it gave my English compositions a certain … something. Finally my English class teacher had enough of my nonsense, and took me out into the hall. She sweetly explained to me why Americans did not use words like that, and why I should resume using standard American spellings. By the time she finished with me I was ready to run outside, salute the flag, and sing the Star-Spangled Banner.
It was a powerful lesson, and to this day, seeing “grey” makes me cringe.