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Re: WOT: "Correct" English



On Tue, Nov 25, 2003 at 11:04:03PM +1030, David Purton wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 25, 2003 at 01:59:20AM -0500, David Yitzchak Cohen wrote:
> > On Mon, Nov 24, 2003 at 10:38:18PM +1030, David Purton wrote:
> > > On Sun, Nov 23, 2003 at 06:22:18PM -0500, David Yitzchak Cohen wrote:
> > > > On Sun, Nov 23, 2003 at 04:32:40PM +1030, David Purton wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > > Even the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary gives both as valid
> > > > > variants.
> > > > 
> > > > Is that the American version, or the British version, just out of 
> > > > curiosity?
> > > 
> > > English version
> > 
> > Well, all that tells us is that in England, they've finally given up
> > and allowed the other (gray, apparenly, would be the American Invasion).
> > The American Oxford, though, should tell us whether the British Invasion
> > was staved off here, or whether everybody's just given up on trying to
> > trace the origins of the two spellings regionally.
> > 
> 
> Not in this case - the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary gives this:
> 
> "Both spellings have analogies in two words in general use derived
> from Old English forms of graeg...; the practice of printing houses is
> various and individuals tend to use the variations with a difference
> of implication..."
> 
> These are some of the quotes given:
> 
> "The night is chill, the cload is gray" COLERIDGE (1772-1834)
> "The grass path grey with dew" BROWNING (1812-89)
> "Grey is composed only of black and white; the term gray is applied to
>    any broken colour of cool hue and therefore belongs to the class of
>    chromatic colours" 1885
> "It was the Friar of orders gray" SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616)
> "My horse, gray Capilet" SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616)
> "I... with grey haires and bruise of many daies, Do challenge thee"
>    SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616)
> "With kamuse nose and even greye asd glas" CHAUCER (1340?-1400)

uh, huh ... interesting, dare I say. . .

> Judging from how the dictionary is set out, I think OUP prefers grey.

?? OUP

 - Dave [who's really tired at 5AM Turkey Day]

-- 
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