• synae[he/him]
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    96 hours ago

    I think of grey as having a slight blue tinge, like grey skies

    Versus gray is made of only (e.g.) black and white paint.

    But I know there’s no reason for that distinction and ultimately they’re interchangeable.

    Mostly I’m just curious how I got this idea of a slightly bluer grey and if anyone else has a similar mental association.

    • @[email protected]
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      23 hours ago

      I prefer spelling it with an ‘e’ so I always do that (probably because my name has two common spellings, one with an A and the other with an E, and mine is the latter).

      But if forced to identify which is which color-wise, I’d say “grey” has cool undertones while “gray” has warm undertones. Really no reason to think that, but it’s right in my brain.

    • @[email protected]
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      45 hours ago

      Interesting! There is a linguistic phenomenon that synonyms differentiate their meanings because we tend to assume that different words have different meanings. This happens both on the individual and collective level. Funny that it even works for different spellings in your case! Maybe you encountered the one in a specific context and since than associate it

    • @saltesc
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      8 hours ago

      Not wrong. For me, Grey is a colour, Gray is an American surname.

      Except for Grey’s Anatomy. The Americans had to concede with that one because of the book, but I’m sure Americans thought it was exotic. That’s why they called the other show House and not Condo. Marketability.

      • @Zachariah
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        148 hours ago

        I thought House was because it sounds like “home” and that sounds like Holmes, and the character/show of House is based on the Sherlock Holmes stories.

        • @[email protected]
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          8 hours ago

          It’s actually a reference to Brick House, the lyrics:

          "Ow, she’s a brick house

          She’s mighty-mighty, just lettin’ it all hang out. She’s a brick house. That lady’s stacked and that’s a fact. Ain’t holding nothing back"

          Referring to the demeanor of Dr.House and how he lets it all hang out, and holds nothing back.

          :P

          • @saltesc
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            48 hours ago

            Ah, that makes much more sense. TIL

          • @aeronmelon
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            37 hours ago

            Sounds more like a reference to Cuddy.

      • @[email protected]
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        17 hours ago

        This is how I think of it as well. I spell the color with an e, and Gray is a name in my extended family.

  • GreatAlbatross
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    58 hours ago

    I frequently confuse the two when I’m not thinking, or my browser has defaulted to the colonial spellchecker.