Whenever I hear someone say they are laying somewhere I wonder whether it is eggs they are laying. The verb 'to lay' needs an object ie you need to lay something. An egg or your burden. ('Gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside...')
English is messy. While I may lie in my bed today I will tell you that yesterday I lay in my bed. That's the past tense, folks, and I admit I do quite a bit of lying in my bed.
The usage of 'lay' as present tense with no object eg 'I enjoyed laying by the pool.' or 'I love laying in my bed reading a book' is so ubiquitous that I realise I am probably fighting a losing battle, but old pedants don't give up without a fight. I have wondered whether people feel a bit shy of saying they are lying ie telling fibbers. They don't want people to think they were telling tall stories by the pool or in bed when in fact they were just lazing about.
What to do?
I might just go and do some more lying in bed, reading a book, not telling fibs at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment