grammar bitchfest of the day
No, my dear. Despite having been selected from the hoi-polloi of the single-and-looking-in-the-Onion-personals, you can't even fill in two short blanks in an online form in a grammatically correct manner.You meant "lying" by the beach is, not "laying" by it. In the present tense, people "lie" down. "Lay" is what people to do objects: "Now I am laying the donor heart on the operating table." (And, incidentally, most people would simply lie directly on the beach, but we'll excuse your choice of preposition. Also, isn't "skinny dipping in the water" a tad redundant?)
If you meant to say that you were, in fact, "laying" on the beach (as in "I'm laying your mom right now"), that's fine, although it's a little weird to think that "laying" in that sense is less sexy than skinny dipping.
However, if that is your intended meaning, you can't simply say you were laying; you need to tell us whom or what you were laying.
I don't need you to name names, young lady, but your verb requires a direct object.
posted by JenIsFamous at 3/20/2007 01:02:00 PM
7 Comments:
Maybe she skinny dips in peanut butter, jello or pudding and water. So she had to specify!
Does "Now I lay me down to sleep" make you cringe? My grammar skills are in serious need of a refresher course. That said, "Now I lay me" has always bugged me.
What about the song Lay Down Sally? Doesn't that bother you? Lay is often used incorrectly in music lyrics, probably because it's easier to say. Lay Down Sally is a good recording. Lie Down Sally would have sounded great.
Hi Mom! I'm so excited when you comment!
"Now I lay me" is weirdly archaic, but the verb isn't wrong, because in this case, "me" is being used as the object, like the donor heart in my example.
For example, both of these are correct:
Now I lie down.
Now I lay myself down.
But you cannot say "Now I lay down."
That being said, "Now I lay me" should actually be "Now I lay MYSELF."
Which sounds awfully dirty for a children's prayer.
Jen
p.s. You are totally correct: "Lay Down Sally" is just wrong. Also, the Pussycat Dolls "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?" should be "Don't you wish your girlfriend WERE hot like me?"
Jen, I thought Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" was wrong, Then again, Dylan was pretty clever. Maybe he meant lay, not lie across my big brass bed. Maybe he wasn't suggesting she just lie down, but actually participate.
Then again, "Lay Lady Lay" rhymes with "Stay lady stay" Lie Lady Lie would have changed everything.
P.S. This song was voted one of the top 69 (yes, 69!)sexiest songs on AOL.
In case you're curious, "Lay Lady Lay" came in at number 45. Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" is number 1.
Jen, are you SURE that "Lay Down Sally" is incorrect? I think it would be were it written "Lay Down, Sally" (i.e., as a recommendation to Sally that she take a powder), but to my mind "Lay Down Sally" might be okay if what the songwriter was trying to convey was that a mortician should place the late Sally on a brass bed while the family deliberates over what kind of coffin to get her.
Then again, maybe not. Textualists like Justice Scalia might point out that, clearly, such a ridiculous suggestion, coming from a mortician, cannot be what the framers of the song intended. Consider the opening lyric, "There is nothing that is wrong/in wanting you to stay here with me". Surely, there is nothing wrong in wanting a dead person to stay with you. Taken for its figurative meaning rather than its literal one, such a sentiment expresses a desire to hold on to the memory of a loved one. Fine. But even still, laying the corporal remains of the dearly departed upon a brass bed--even a big one like Bob Dylan's--is not only probably not very hygienic, but also would almost certainly be violative of the law in 38 states regarding disposal of a body.
If we accept, then, that there can be little ambiguity as to the intended meaning of "Lay Down Sally"--clearly, it must be a grammatically incorrect entreaty to an infant to go down for her nap--I should imagine that you would be more troubled by the last line of the song: "You can lay your worries down and stay with me. . ." Um, actually, no she can't, and that's true regardless of whether Sally is already pushing up daisies, lain across Bob Dylan's berth (in death), or just sawing wood as golden slumbers fill her eyes.
There may indeed once have been a way to get back homeward (or just back home), but never has it been possible to lay one's worries down anywhere. This is because one's worries are quite intangible; however real they may seem. Troubles cannot be packed up in an old kit bag, and nor can worries be lain anywhere. Rather, we must tote our troubles and worries around in our tortured minds, as everyone knows that the mind is like a fanny pack for disturbed thoughts.
My mind, of course, is more like a steamer trunk than a fanny pack. That explains why I don't get out much.
; )
What about the William Faulkner novel "As I Lay Dying"? None of the following titles seems to suggest the same book:
As I Have Been Lain Dying
As I Lie Dying
As I Lay the Dying
Erotic Asphyxia and Other Little Deaths
Lassie, Get Help!
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home