Eminence Grise-or "Grey is the new White"

[Child of the 7th Age]

It is interesting how Tolkien seems to reject some of the conventional "modern" characteristics that are associated with grey, many of which are negative or at least ambivalent. I looked up 'grey' in an on-line source, and here are some of these associations:

"Grey life", meaning mere existence without much sense or goal.

A "grey person" is someone who goes unnoticed, a wallflower.

In a moral sense grey is either used pejoratively to describe situations that have no clear moral value, or positively to balance an all-black or all-white view (for example, shades of grey = magnitudes of good/bad)

Grey is associated with autumn, bad weather and sadness.

Grey has been used to describe the industrialism, as opposed to green to describe environmentalism.

The hair becomes grey as one ages, and hence grey is associated with senior citizens, and has inspired the name of the Gray Panthers.

The substance that composes the brain is referred to as "grey matter", and for that reason the color is associated with things intellectual. "Theory is grey... "

A great many of these associations don't work well with Gandalf. However, the blending into the woodwork--someone who purposely goes unnoticed--definitely does, since this is the role Gandalf occupied for many years (that is, when his temper didn't flare out!). Also, the association with older age, which connotes the specific form that the istari took on, and the reference to intelligence also seem to fit.