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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[–] gegil@sopuli.xyz 211 points 3 days ago (22 children)

Gray is a color, while grey is a colour.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Gray is the color of aluminum, grey is the colour of aluminium

[–] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago
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[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 6 points 2 days ago
[–] fullsquare@awful.systems 121 points 3 days ago (8 children)

grey - 🇬🇧 english (traditional)

gray - 🇺🇸 english (simplified)

[–] lonefighter@sh.itjust.works 35 points 3 days ago (2 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.

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[–] nonentity@sh.itjust.works 18 points 3 days ago

gray - 🇺🇸 english (simplified)

grey - 🇬🇧 english (traditional)

gr*y - 🇦🇺 english (explicit)

[–] trackball_fetish@lemmy.wtf 16 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I'm splitting hairs but I always read

grey - 🇨🇦 english (eh)

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[–] TheFermentalist@reddthat.com 65 points 3 days ago (6 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 64 points 3 days ago (8 children)

E is English. A is American.

[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This makes the Scottish very mad

[–] Codpiece@feddit.uk 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I’m sorry.

But the Scottish want to claim something English as theirs? When did that start?

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[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 28 points 3 days ago (6 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 32 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Canada, which uses both

græy /s

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[–] Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Canadas english is weird

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

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 28 points 3 days ago (5 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.

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 11 points 3 days 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.

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[–] otter@lemmy.ca 10 points 3 days ago

No need to downvote this comment

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

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[–] Venator@lemmy.nz 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

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

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[–] olafurp@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago
[–] spacegoat@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I know that this is “no stupid questions” but it boggles the mind that people post in forums when the answer is either yes/no, or a single sentence explanation available in a web search.

[–] zeppo@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago (2 children)

we should just not have Lemmy at all and only read news articles, wikipedia and talk to ourselves

[–] Waraugh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 days ago

I’m glad you asked. This is something I never realized how often I have brief flashes of curiosity about before I yolo it and never bothered looking up. As soon as I saw the title I was looking forward to reading what people had to say.

[–] spacegoat@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I would argue that the purpose of Lemmy comments is dialogue, not for other users to be someone’s dictionary

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[–] jenesaisquoi@feddit.org 26 points 3 days ago (9 children)

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

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[–] Hiro8811@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

It's pronounced gay ya twats

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 21 points 3 days ago (2 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.

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[–] degenerate_neutron_matter@fedia.io 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)
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[–] lillardfair@lemmy.world 13 points 3 days ago (2 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.

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