Gray
Gray (spelled grey in Commonwealth English) is a colour seen commonly in nature. It is created by mixing white and black in different proportions. Depending on the amount of light, the human eye can interpret the same object as either gray or some other colour.
Usage, symbolism and colloquial expressions
- 'Gray life', meaning mere existence without much sense or goal.
- Gray was used as the colour of the uniforms of Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War, as opposed to the blue uniforms of Union soldiers.
- In a moral sense gray is either used
- pejoratively to describe situations that have no clear moral value, or
- positively to balance an all-black or all-white view (i.e. shades of gray = magnitudes of good/bad)
- Gray is associated with autumn, bad weather, and sadness.
- The hair becomes gray as one ages, and hence gray is associated with senior citizens, as inspired the name of the Gray Panthers.
- The substance that composes the brain is referred to as 'gray matter', and for that reason the color is associated with things intellectual.
Other meanings:
