Re: CHAT: new names (was: Re: Bopomofo and pinyin)

John Cowan wrote:

> Indeed.  But some poeple here have read enough non-American works
> to actually have different association to "gray" and "grey", making
> a (mild) semantic distinction where none was before.
> Moss caricatures this as "the lure of the mysterious East in
> Kipling's spelling of 'pyjamas'", but it's a real effect.
>
> For myself, "gray" is neutral to mildly negative ("battleship gray", e.g.);
> "grey" is positive and associated with mist.  The fantasy novel
> "The Grey Mane of Morning", originally published in the U.K.,
> kept the same title when published here.
I was just musing about this fact before I read your post.  For me,
"gray" is a yellowy, warm gray (the letter "a" is yellow), whereas
"grey" is either a pure or a cool/blue grey (the letter "e" being grey
itself or perhaps light blue).

The first (grey) would better describe an overcast day, the second
(grey) a misty night.  The second seems also more positive to me, but
then the letteer e is more positive to me than a.

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