this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2026
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No Stupid Questions

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why is this not one way or the other?

addendum: wow, thanks everyone. I truly never knew it was a British vs. American spelling thing.

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[–] jenesaisquoi@feddit.org 17 points 3 hours ago

It is spelled grey in correct English. In the USA, they like spelling it gray.

[–] gegil@sopuli.xyz 90 points 5 hours ago (6 children)

Gray is a color, while grey is a colour.

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[–] lastlybutfirstly@lemmy.world 5 points 3 hours ago

Gray in the US. Grey elsewhere.

[–] Zomg@piefed.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Depends on where you live. There are American and European spellings for some words. IE color vs colour

[–] fullsquare@awful.systems 76 points 7 hours ago (3 children)

grey - 🇬🇧 english (traditional)

gray - 🇺🇸 english (simplified)

[–] nonentity@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 hour ago

gray - 🇺🇸 english (simplified)

grey - 🇬🇧 english (traditional)

gr*y - 🇦🇺 english (explicit)

[–] lonefighter@sh.itjust.works 22 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

This is correct, but for some reason in my head I think of gray as warm toned (like with yellow or brown undertones) and grey as cool toned (like with blue or purple undertones).

I have no idea why my brain has decided this is the way.

[–] zakobjoa@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago

What?! It's exactly the opposite, obviously!

[–] trackball_fetish@lemmy.wtf 10 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

I'm splitting hairs but I always read

grey - 🇨🇦 english (eh)

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 3 points 3 hours ago

Gray in the U.S. presumably because a was cheaper than e for typesetting

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 points 3 hours ago

Either way is correct.

[–] TheFermentalist@reddthat.com 55 points 7 hours ago (4 children)

E is the European version, A is the American version. This sounds trite, but is true, and makes it simple to know which one to use

[–] Codpiece@feddit.uk 49 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

E is English. A is American.

[–] Kalothar@lemmy.ca -3 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

Are you being like pedantic or just trying to make it more simple?

(Otherwise North America and specially the United States has the majority of English speakers in the world, so there is a realistic distinction between U.K. / European English and American English and both are equally correct evolutions of their English roots )

[–] quill7513@anarchist.nexus 3 points 1 hour ago

it's a mnemonic to help people remember, not pedantry

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 25 points 7 hours ago (5 children)

. . . Unless you’re in the majority of the English speaking world, which includes India, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Of course, grey is the appropriate spelling for all of those but Canada, which uses both.

[–] squirrel@cake.kobel.fyi 19 points 7 hours ago (3 children)

Canada, which uses both

græy /s

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 5 points 5 hours ago

That looks awesome though

[–] Uranus_Hz@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 hours ago

“Both” in Canada is Gray and Gris

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

That’s what Seal’s rose was on.

[–] Venator@lemmy.nz 10 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Also depends if it's someone's last name... 😅

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[–] Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

Canadas english is weird

Especially when it comes to measurements (weight, volume, mass, temperature)

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 24 points 7 hours ago (3 children)

What’s wrong with Canada’s weights and measures?

Everything is in SI units.

Unless you’re cooking, where heat is in Fahrenheit, solid measures are in cups teaspoons and tablespoons (but liquids are in litres and weights are in grams).

Or in construction, where you work in feet and yards. Or measuring a person’s height.

But while someone might be 6’ tall, their stride length will be in metres, as will their arm span.

So yeah; simple. It’s not like Canada has tons of people weighing in tonnes.

[–] Holytimes@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 hours ago

Canada said fuck it we use what makes the most sense for the scope and scale at hand. And then cherry picked everything.

Unironically if you get your head out of your fucking ass for two seconds and stop being a fan boy for measurement systems.

Canada has arguably the best worst solution! Its fantastic! And awful! I love it.

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 8 points 7 hours ago

A "Pint" of beer served commercially in Canada must be 20 imperial (UK) ounces (aka ~568 mL), with a 2.5% margin of error permitted within the law, unlike a US pint (16 US fl oz ~473mL).

Just for fun, "Une pinte" of alcohol in French served commercially is "a quart" of alcohol in English which is double that value.

[–] jqubed@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago

My in-laws in Quebec get weighed in pounds

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 9 points 7 hours ago

No need to downvote this comment

Even canadians agree that we have a weird mix of different systems in play

[–] fizzle@quokk.au 4 points 6 hours ago

Australia uses both, but grey is "correct".

[–] Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 2 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

Canada, which uses both.

Is it Caneda then, or Cenada?

;-)

[–] tyler@programming.dev 4 points 5 hours ago

Americans spell it whatever way they want.

[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

But in certain circumstances, the Europeans will still use it with an a. Specifically, when referring to the color of a horse.

[–] TheFermentalist@reddthat.com 2 points 5 hours ago

Wasn’t aware of that

[–] degenerate_neutron_matter@fedia.io 12 points 6 hours ago (1 children)
[–] bstix@feddit.dk 4 points 5 hours ago

In all the languages that have the letter æ , exactly none of them use it for that colour.

[–] forestbeasts@pawb.social 2 points 4 hours ago

Depends who you ask.

We know someone named Gray and a different person named Grey!

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 21 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I think it's a USA vs European English thing.

I prefer the 'grey' spelling though, even though 'gray' is most common in the states.

[–] SorteKanin@feddit.dk 1 points 4 hours ago

European English

Is this a thing? Isn't it just "British English"?

[–] lillardfair@lemmy.world 10 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

I know it's an American vs other English speaking countries thing, but as an American I can honestly never remember which one we are. I always used to look it up, but now I just shoot from the hip and assume I'm right, which feels the most American way to approach it.

[–] tyler@programming.dev 7 points 5 hours ago

I think that’s what most Americans do. I don’t think I’ve thought about how to spell it in decades. I just spell it both ways depending on the day.

[–] kibblebits@quokk.au 2 points 5 hours ago
[–] Casuls_Die_Thrice@lemmy.zip 2 points 6 hours ago
[–] adarza@piefed.ca 2 points 6 hours ago

for the color i use "a" always.. but was taught either one was acceptable, unless it's a name (proper noun).

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