Re: Need some help with terms: was "rhotic miscellany"

Sally Caves scripsit:

> It's an old confusion.  In early ME, or in the transition from OE to ME, I
> believe, "lay" and "set" were established as transitive alternatives to the
> intransitives "lie" and "sit."
Which is why we either lay or set the table.

> especially among my dissertationers,
What a great word!  Apparently it's a coinage: searching Google shows no
hits for "dissertationer" except in Swedish text (pl. of "dissertation",
I suppose).

> I insist on it, and I hope that doesn't stir John Cowan's sense of
> elitist prescriptivism. :),
Not too much.

> Because it is so prevalent, I believe the distinction will die, and
> "lay" will cover the intransitive meaning as well.
Though I hear and see plenty of hypercorrect forms:  "I was tired, so I
lied down."  For some reason, this upsets me much more than the opposite.

There is also transitive "lay" = "have sex with" (either party can be
the subject) to further muddy the waters.

> "lie" (sustain a prostrate or prone position)
ObPedantic:  I think these are synonymous.  Do you perchance mean
"a prone or supine position"?  (If there is a ten-dollar word for lying on
your side, I don't know it.)

--
John Cowan  jcowan@reutershealth.com  www.ccil.org/~cowan
Female celebrity stalker, on a hot morning in Cairo:
"Imagine, Colonel Lawrence, ninety-two already!"
El Auruns's reply:  "Many happy returns of the day!"

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