I prefer grey because it seems more … grey. To me A seems happier than E.
As far as the cover eating phrase, back in the ’80s I remember the phrase “You can send a kid to college but you can’t make them think.” A clever way of saying the exact same thing. And, yes, that’s when I was in college.
On the topic of Donk, in the poker community (at least locally) a Donk (also short for Donkey) is a stupid (and frequently lucky) card player.
AND as far as optional spellings, maybe one would use ketchup as a condiment and catsup as an ingredient. I don’t know. I like mustard.