Lie me down

[zingerella]

It's taken me a few months to figure out how to do this. Inspired by sabotabby, I present

Chocolate and Commas
The escapades of a dancing editor

Comments

[princessrugger]

omg, that has TOTALLY happened to me. i can't help it; bad grammar completely kills the mood!

[zingerella]

To be fair, it didn't kill the mood, so much as introduce a note of levity to the proceedings. I said something like "Ohmigod I'm so sorry!" and he laughed.

The individual in question also doesn't seem to think the distinction between "lay" and "lie" is relevant in the modern context. He's more descriptivist than I am (and possibly more functionalist, when it comes to questions of usage), and contends that the distincition is a fussy one, with little symantic value---it doesn't make things clearer to use "lay" transitively and "lie" intransitively, and most people who are not editors, prescriptivists, Thistlebottoms, or grammar wanks don't know the difference and don't notice. (I think I'm representing the sense, if not the wording, of his argument correctly; if he's reading this he can correct me if I've misrepresented him. He didn't use the term "Thistlebottoms"---that's my interpretation of his argument.

Being an editor, I'm more prescriptivist, and I like the fiddly little distinctions, even when they really don't make a lot of

[seanmonster]

...it didn't kill the mood, so much as introduce a note of levity to the proceedings.

My wife and I have moments like that, too. How we laugh is as important as how we love.

[roadnotes]

Oh, beautiful!

Soren and I edit our conversations as we go, in all contexts. He finds it endearing when I say "less," pause, then say, "fewer."