Lay or lie?

If you are doing it to something such as laying a row of tiles, laying a piece of carpet or laying an egg (!) then you are “laying”.
If you are sunbathing, reclining in bed or even, like Elinor Glyn on a tiger skin, you are lying ( no, not accusing you of telling porky pies!)

I'm never sure if I am laying or lying.
It used to just come naturally, but I'm less certain now.
I wasn't taught a lot of the things discussed here though: only the very basics.

I am sure somebody has said this already and it does irritate when people get it wrong, but I just sigh inwardly and let it go
However in English English, “to lay”:is a transitive verb ie.takes an object.
Hens lay eggs, I lay down my weary burden , I lay down the law, but also a reflexive verb as in
“ now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.”
It’s past tense is “laid” as in “my hens laid six eggs yesterday”

“To lie” is an intransitive verb, cannot have an object and its past tense is “lay” - I lie on the bed, the books lie on he floor, at the battle of Trafalgae many wounded sailors lay on the deck” etc.
And course to indicate geographical position, e,g,London lies South of Birmingham etc.
End of.
What they say in the US is their business.

Or, as they say in Bristol:
I was led on the bed

I agree with Hebdenali and Rapunzel100 - the use of 'So' at the beginning of sentences really grates. I also balk at the misuse of 'I' and 'me'; so many speakers seem to think that 'me' is bad grammar, viz. "~They mean you and I".... no! 'I' is the subject, 'me' is the object. I always told my English Language students to leave out the 'you' to see how wrong the sentence sounded, i.e. "They mean I..." They usually got the message, and most ended up with a better knowledge of grammar than your average native English speaker.

I'm being driven crazy by a radio advert for a video conferencing service which exhorts listeners to "meet happy". It has the same effect on me as fingernails on a blackboard.
Oh, and is anyone else irritated by the apparent inability of some journalists to use affect and effect correctly?

Hebdenali - I share your feelings! My jaw automatically clenches when I hear this at the beginning of a sentence.

Cabbie: “ My grandma gifted me £2000.”

This may well be the correct term. There is a legal way you can pass money to younger children in advance of death duties, it is called 'gifting'

There is a world of difference between writing and speaking.
Starting an reply with 'So' is a verbal way of gathering your thought before speaking. Such has always been used. If they said 'well' or 'um' instead of 'so' would that bother you too.?
I am very pedantic about grammar when writing something that will be a permanent record. You hae to be careful, as you don't want the reader to not understand what you are saying.
In a verbal conversation, you have individual ways of speaking, manual gestures, etc to convey meaning. Spoken language will never stay the same, you might as well get used to it :-)

I too hate 'Can I get....? 'and using myself , yourself and yourselves all over the place.

Have you seen this at the top of today's page?

'I would love my husband and I to live our own life'

gransnet.cmail19.com/t/d-l-otdtlkl-ihdihtlkk-r/

The fact that so many people start sentences with “So” really annoys me. You can hardly hear an answer to a question on the radio with out this usually unnecessary word. Is it just me or does it rankle with others?

He’s itching himself....no he’s not. He might be itching but he’s scratching himself.

Then there’s something odd the young folk do mixing up ‘robbed’ and ‘stealing’ but I can’t remember exactly what it was.

I agree quizqueen , you even see could of, etc. in newspaper reports!

The worse culprits, in my book, are the ones who say or write 'would(n't), could(n't), should(n't) etc. 'of' instead of 'have'. 'I couldn't' is not a verb by itself; it needs a verb to complete the future tense ( possibly even the future perfect, I have forgotten that!).

Also, the misuse of an apostrophe for a plural and the incorrect position of it for a singular/plural possessive is very annoying. I see it lots of mistakes on here and on mumsnet. Also, I hate it when people say, 'Get off of'. there's no need for the inclusion of an extra 'of'.

And then there is "Hence why"......it makes me FURIOUS! One would say "Hence, I am screaming" or "that is why I am screaming". Oxymoron....used by oxymorons ????

I am sure it has been said before, I personally do not like the use of “gift” as a verb, as in “ My grandma gifted me £2000.”

To me, gift is a noun. What is wrong with the word “ give” or “ bequeath”?

not when he got further into the song.... no chickens there ...
one of my favourites...

Far worse in my opinion is the incorrect use of "loan" - e.g. on the recent 'Posh Pawn' TV show, they are always saying "We will loan you £x against that ring" (or whatever) - this makes my husband and I both scream at the TV ... "It is LEND not Loan !!!" Even our neighbour came over one day and asked it we could "loan" him a large Screwdriver !!! I ask you!!!

The phrase that really irritates me these days is “Can I get ...?” when ordering food and drink.

I dislike bad grammar but I dont agree with the automatic assumption that America is to blame for this. That is a lazy assumption. I happen to like some of their expressions, such putting out the ‘trash’ instead of the ‘rubbish’. It’s lively and interesting. What I absolutely abhor is the constant use of ‘like’ or ‘sort of’in every sentence.

It definitely should be "lie." Another one that really annoys me is those traffic information signs saying "Don't drive drunk." Don't drive drunk what? Sheep? Elephants? What is wrong with the phrase they used to use, "Don't drink and drive," or even "Don't drive when drunk?" Drunk can be a noun, an adjective or part of a verb, but NOT an adverb. Also irritating are the phrases "I seen it," "I done it" etc and transposing the past tense of "to be," e.g. "I were," "you was" etc. Don't get me started, or I'll be here all day. Apostrophes, "Me and my friend" ...

I agree with the previous posts.The younger generation didn't have the benefit of the morning grammar lessons in school when we had to "parse " the sentences: noun, verb, adjective, adverb etc. In fact they probably don't know the word "parse"

I have a T shirt which says "Silently Correcting your Grammar"...... It's in constant use, and I'm finding it harder to keep silent!
The lay/lie thing drives me mad too.....and the "sat sitting" and so on.......

The supermarkets have only just managed to cope with fewer/less, as in 10 items per basket. 'For free' seems to be the next worthy campaign. Another rile is 'I have went' or, even worse, 'I was learned'....gggrrrrrrr!

Totally or totally like is my bugbear, as in “it was totally like awesome” oh and don’t get me started on the awful awesome!!