http://faerye.net/tag/confusion Posts tagged with "confusion" - Faerye Net 2008-07-08T11:27:48+00:00 Felicity Shoulders http://faerye.net/ http://faerye.net/post/grey-and-gray grey and gray 2008-07-08T11:27:48+00:00 2008-07-08T11:27:48+00:00 <p>In my third semester in the <span class="caps">MFA</span>, I got a marginal note from my advisor: &#8220;grey is Engl. spelling &#8211; gray is U.S. spelling&#8221;. On the next page, he circled &#8216;gray&#8217; (pushing consistency), and by the end of that semester I had added &#8220;find/replace grey&#8221; to the list of final touches I must put on a story before sending it out.</p> <p>I actually remember having trouble with this as a child. We largely learn to spell by reading, or at least I did, and massive numbers of the books I read as a child were British. I remember being admonished for writing &#8216;colour&#8217; and &#8216;flavour&#8217; as a first- or second-grader, and my indignation at the unfairness. It was in books! How could it be wrong if it was spelled that way <em>in books</em>? But some variations between British and American English are further under the radar than &#8216;glamour&#8217; and &#8216;theatre&#8217;. Enforcement of &#8216;gray&#8217; was not widespread, and I wasn&#8217;t sure which I should use. I remember misspelling my grandmother&#8217;s name as &#8216;Vey&#8217; instead of &#8216;Vay&#8217; &#8211; I don&#8217;t think my parents realized it, but that was because of &#8216;grey&#8217;.</p> <p>Now that I realize the distinction, it&#8217;s interesting to see that, while I obviously prefer &#8216;grey&#8217;, I use both. Search finds 69 non-Grey City hits for &#8216;grey&#8217;, 31 non-name hits for &#8216;gray&#8217; just on this site. Heck, I even spell Marvel Girl&#8217;s secret identity both ways. I&#8217;m hemorrhaging geek-cred while we speak. At any rate, I think I use the word &#8216;grey&#8217; for more subtle or numinous hues and connotations, whereas I reach for the American &#8216;gray&#8217; for flatter, darker tones. Zombies are gray. <a href="http://faerye.net/post/wordwatching" target="links">Skies over oceans</a> are grey. No wonder I&#8217;ve been using the latter extensively <a href="http://faerye.net/post/thesis-matters" target="links">in my thesis</a>. One wonders what other linguistic quirks I will discover in myself as I turn a disciplined eye to my writing!</p>