You're like my fairy godmother, and Santa Claus, and Q all wrapped up into one! Q from Bond, not Star Trek.

Buffy ,'Help'


The Minearverse 4: Support Group for Clumsy People  

[NAFDA] "There will be an occasional happy, so that it might be crushed under the boot of the writer." From Zorro to Angel (including Wonderfalls and The Inside), this is where Buffistas come to anoint themselves in the bloodbath.


Gris - Sep 26, 2005 1:13:23 pm PDT #4369 of 10001
Hey. New board.

balling of the melon

*giggle*

t /twelve


Morgana - Sep 26, 2005 1:19:39 pm PDT #4370 of 10001
"I make mistakes, but I am on the side of Good," the Golux said, "by accident and happenchance.” – The 13 Clocks, James Thurber

Did anyone ever figure out why a psychiatric institution *just happened* to have a bone saw laying (lying? I can never keep laying/lying straight) around in the hallway? Did they perform impromptu surgeries in the patient rooms? Was it to handle those pesky hangnails?


amych - Sep 26, 2005 1:20:42 pm PDT #4371 of 10001
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?

Flebotnum. And lying.


Morgana - Sep 26, 2005 1:21:51 pm PDT #4372 of 10001
"I make mistakes, but I am on the side of Good," the Golux said, "by accident and happenchance.” – The 13 Clocks, James Thurber

So what's the grammar rule-of-thumb to help you differentiate between laying and lying?


amych - Sep 26, 2005 1:28:44 pm PDT #4373 of 10001
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?

So what's the grammar rule-of-thumb to help you differentiate between laying and lying?

There's really no good mnemonic (at least, not that I've ever found). Lay always refers to someone or something else -- you lay a book down on the table, or you lay someone, or you get laid (by someone). If you're doing it on your own -- lying down, lying around -- it's lie. It's almost always lie.

(And "now I lay me down to sleep", on which I blame a lot of this mess, is correct only because it's "lay me" -- if it weren't for that pronoun in there, it would be "now I lie down..." Stupid fucking poetic structures.)


Gris - Sep 26, 2005 1:29:31 pm PDT #4374 of 10001
Hey. New board.

But... "Now I lay me down" sound so much prettier.

I need to lie down.


Morgana - Sep 26, 2005 1:31:08 pm PDT #4375 of 10001
"I make mistakes, but I am on the side of Good," the Golux said, "by accident and happenchance.” – The 13 Clocks, James Thurber

Okay, thanks.... I'll try to pound that into my brain. You'd think after an English degree and 12 years as a technical writer I'd have that down, but I have a mental block. I have to look it up every time.


Topic!Cindy - Sep 26, 2005 1:31:46 pm PDT #4376 of 10001
What is even happening?

When my mother was little, she thought, "Now I lay me" was a Latin word.


Topic!Cindy - Sep 26, 2005 1:32:50 pm PDT #4377 of 10001
What is even happening?

Okay, thanks.... I'll try to pound that into my brain. You'd think after an English degree and 12 years as a technical writer I'd have that down, but I have a mental block. I have to look it up every time.

Go sex. Choose sex. I mean as your memory device. You lay someone (or something, and ewww). You lie (about it).


Gris - Sep 26, 2005 1:35:21 pm PDT #4378 of 10001
Hey. New board.

Getting laid usually involves lying down. Lying afterwards is optional. I was hoping to continue this by throwing in "lye" but i really couldn't come up with anything that didn't give me a truly painful mental image.