Why are grey chickens called every other color but grey?

[The Moonshiner]

Might have to get some of those! Temperament anything like the speckled Sussex? Favorite hens here.
Mary

I've had SS from a couple sources but CS only once from one source. The CS were similar but a little more relaxed.
Maybe because they were from a breeder while the SS were from hatcheries.
The CS I had were great. No complaints.

 

[kattabelly]

So true! Commercial (hatchery) RIR's are actually orange, while show type RIR's are dark 'red' or mahogany.
Mary

That plus some shades of buff and wheaten can sometimes look similar, at least to my inexpert eye, and the darker of those sometimes aren't visually all that different to the paler orangey "red" chickens. And then there's other words like gold and I think I've seen bay used too.