The word gray, coming from the colour that is mixture of black and white, has two opposite meanings. When we are upset with someone who is indulging in extreme interpretations of things we tell him that everything is not black and white and there are shades of gray too in between. In this case gray has a positive meaning. It is symbolizing moderation, accommodation, sagacity and other positive attitudes. On the other hand when we say that someone is operation in the gray area we mean that he has left the while area, that is, the legal territory. In this case gray has got the negative connotations.