XP: Lie/lay low!?!

Peter Creasey

Peter Creasey

Peter Creasey
I constantly see people and media say "lay low" when it apparently should be "lie low". As a current example, I've seen the media talking about Zimmerman in Florida deciding to "lay low".

In the opinion(s) of wordsmiths here, how unacceptable, if at all, is it to use the informal "lay low" rather than the more correct "lie low"?

This would seem to be instructional...

lay low,
a.
to overpower or kill; defeat: to lay one's attackers low.
b.
to knock down; make prostrate.
c.
Informal . to lie low.

lie low,
a.
to conceal oneself: He had to lie low for a while.
b.
to do nothing until the right opportunity develops; bide one's time: Until the dispute is settled, you would do best to lie low.
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. . . . . Pete
 
Lie is intransitive and lay is transitive. (I like to lie on the bed; I like to lay my sweater on the bed.)

The problem stems from the simple past of "lie," which is, unfortunately for the easily confused, "lay." (Yesterday, I laid my sweater on the bed; yesterday, I lay on the bed all afternoon.)

Mixing them up is "unacceptable" only to the extent that one is prescriptivist, I suppose. But it isn't technically correct.

"He had to lie low," is obviously correct. As is, "When he was a fugitive from justice, he lay low for seven months."

But of course, it is amusing to remember the other "lay low," which frankly, just doesn't get enough play. Perhaps we should use it more in restaurants.
 
Sharon explains the distinction better than I could I would just add that I find unacceptable the following construction: "how unacceptable, if any..."
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
Lie is intransitive and lay is transitive. (I like to lie on the bed; I like to lay my sweater on the bed.)
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Ooo... Kinky, winegrrrl!!!

Mark Lipton
 
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