Oh, but here’s my favorite: The preferred U.K. spelling of the color that describes ashes and the eyes of the goddess Athena is “grey.” The preferred American spelling is “gray,” but try telling that to the writers who will go ballistic if, in copyediting, you attempt to impose that spelling. In all my years of correcting other people’s spelling, I don’t think I’ve ever come up against more pushback than on this point. My long-held theory—make of it what you will—is that the spelling “grey” imprints itself on some people who encounter it in beloved classic children’s books, and they form an
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