Wow! I thought I was the only one who felt that implication...though I also feel that grey seems "richer" than gray--which seems lighter and thinner somehow. I wonder how these feelings became attached to these spellings. Is it because of feelings toward the English (who use the grey spelling) versus Americans (gray is the American English spelling)? (Note that in HTML, only "lightgrey" is spelled with the "e"...because it's inherited from the older, X11 list....which had similar inconsistency in spelling [e.g., "LightSlateGray"].)
There is a shade of gray/grey that I have encountered only thrice...in some fossilized coral from Florida, in a girlfriend's eyes, and in the clouds of a storm. When I saw that storm, 13 years after last seeing that lady, I wrote a poem about it...and I have questioned ever since if it were some other quality than the shade of gray/grey that I saw. It had depth, warmth, softness... I wonder if I will ever see it again (never have found similar coral samples), but I hope I do. No color chits from a paint store ever bore that "hue," though I have looked, in case it were really a blueish-gray/grey or something.
And that's why I ponder the terminology so.
"...a philosopher's curiosity with aestheic appreciation...such is a geologist, for geology is neither science nor art alone. --Thomas Eleri
Grey has always seemed to me a grey with a bit of blue, like dark rain clouds. To me, it's soothing, cool, and refreshing. Warm gray is gray with a bit of pink added, or yellow. Not so you can visibly see the pink or yellow, maybe a tiny bit of beige added. An irritating warm gray, which always puts me at odds.
Colors are interesting and definitely affect emotions and states of mind.
For istance, orange in sunset clouds or flowers I like fine; orange clothes or in signs - Ouch!
Sorry, can't match that!