Mumsnet Talk

It's lie down isn't it? Surely? Yet everyone in this neck of the woods seems to 'lay down', ie tell the dog to 'go and lay down on your bed' etc. My friend's little boy (3yo) is here and pretending to be a doctor, telling my ds to 'lay down' while he gives him some medicine, which I know is because his mother would say 'lay down' too.

It's making me doubt my sanity myself. Have I got to the ripe old age of 31 thinking it should be 'lie down on the bed' and all this time I was wrong and it should be 'lay down on the bed'?

No, you're right! It's a common mistake but 'lie' is to be in a horizontal position whereas 'lay' is to place something down. You could 'lie down on the bed' or your partner could 'lay you down on the bed' (stupid example, I know!).

Yes, its lie down.

I was taught that 'lay' means lay down and 'lie' means to fib.

Spike you 'lay something down' but you 'lie down'.

You're right. One lies down, but one lays something else down. In grammatical terms, 'lie' is an intransitive verb, and 'lay' is a transitive one. The confusion has probably (understandably) arisen from the fact that 'lay', as well as being a verb in its own right, is also the past tense of 'lie'.

No, I mean my English teacher taught us that 'lie down' is always incorrect.

Mind you he also told us never to use 'alright', preferring 'all right'.

So maybe he was just a bit fick.

I would lay down a wine but I would lie myself down on a bed - that fits with your transitive/intransitive, Goldberry

Its a tricky one...
yes, you lie down on a bed. Well, you can lay on a bed if you're with your best beloved...

Its complicated by the fact that the 'thing' that can be laid down can be something like 'lay down your life'

I'd say lie down and have a lie in and I'm not sure what that Mr Dylan was on about with his lay lady lay - sounds like a bad business.

>Mind you he also told us never to use 'alright', preferring 'all right'.

quite right, there's no such word as 'alright'.

Well, I suppose getting laid is a whole different idiom.

I agree: it's "lie down" when the person/creature is moving their own body to a recumbent position, and "lay down" when placing or relinquishing a thing.

Thank you for (mainly) proving me right!

I feel much better now and will correct dh next time he say lay down to the dog

People using lay instead of lie drives me mad. I can't believe your English teacher Spike! Wow.

The people that get that wrong usually use SAT instead of sitting too

"Under the wide and starry sky
Dig the grave and let me lie:
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will".

But I suppose it's because you can lay yourself down, much like you would anything else.