Lie or Lay?

I can never get this one right. Lay the book down, I lie down, but it is, now I lay me down to sleep. In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t really matter all that much, except I love the English language and I want to get it right, or do I mean correct?

I looked this one up and found several good explanations. This one from Wikipedia was just good and straightforward about these two troublesome words:


The usage lay has been used intransitively in the sense of “lie” since the 14th century. The practice was unremarkable until around 1770; attempts to correct it have been a fixture of schoolbooks ever since. Generations of teachers and critics have succeeded in taming most literary and learned writing, but intransitive lay persists in familiar speech and is a bit more common in general prose than one might suspect. Much of the problem lies in the confusing similarity of the principal parts of the two words. Another influence may be a folk belief that lie is for people and lay is for things. Some commentators are ready to abandon the distinction, suggesting that lay is on the rise socially. But if it does rise to respectability, it is sure to do so slowly: many people have invested effort in learning to keep lie and lay distinct. Remember that even though many people do use lay for lie, others will judge you unfavorably if you do.

(Hey I am never one who likes to be judged unfavorably!!)

The verb lie is intransitive, meaning it does not need an object. Example: I lie down. The verb lay is transitive, meaning that it DOES need an object. I lay the book on the table.
Tenses are as follows: Lie. Past. I lay down. Past Perfect: I have lain down for five hours. Lay. Past. I lay the book on the table. Past Perfect. I have laid the book on the table.

Lay versus Lie, from another blog:

A frustrating pair. Here's the deal. In the present tense, lay is a transitive verb, meaning it takes a direct object: you lay something down. Lie doesn't take a direct object: something just lies there. If you're tired of holding something, you should lay it down; if you're not feeling well, you should lie down. (Of course I'm excluding lie, "tell an untruth" — this is just the reclining lie.)

Not too bad: if this were the whole deal, there'd be nothing to worry about. But it gets messier, because the past tense of lay is laid, and the past tense of lie is, well, lay.

This whole thing came up when I had to put the kibosh on a certain boy and girl watching a movie together on a couch in my living room, and in that case I got the usage absolutely dead on; for the correct word in that case is SIT!!

Kibosh

Isn't that an interesting word? I used it last night in thinking to myself, "I'm going to have to put the kibosh on that." Only in my thoughts I had spelled it wrong (kabosh). The etymology of this word is listed as unknown, but it sounds Brooklynesque to me.

kibosh
One entry found.
Main Entry: ki·bosh Pronunciation: \ˈkī-ˌbäsh, kī-ˈ; ki-ˈbäsh\
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
Date: 1836: something that serves as a check or stop — kibosh transitive verb

So I think that as I come across interesting words I will post them under the What's Up With That Word? label or Words I Have Known and Loved, or maybe just boring old Word of the Day?

SAD Or Just Glum

It's the time of year when SAD kicks in for many people. Seasonal Affective Disorder? Why do we have to have a clinical definition for every mood we feel?! According to Wikipedia:

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), also known as winter depression or winter blues, is a mood disorder in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year experience depressive symptoms in the winter or, less frequently, in the summer,[1] repeatedly, year after year. The US National Library of Medicine notes that "some people experience a serious mood change when the seasons change. They may sleep too much, have little energy, and crave sweets and starchy foods. They may also feel depressed. Though symptoms can be severe, they usually clear up."[2] The condition in the summer is often referred to as Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder, and can also include heightened anxiety.

Why do we need an excuse for everything? I challenge calling this feeling a disorder. I think it's perfectly natural. Why not just say we're human and in the winter when the days are dark and gray we get glum? But when the days are sunny I feel better, or as in Wikipedia's definition, though symptoms can be severe, they usually clear up. Ha ha ha! Also works: a cup of hot tea and some chocolate!

Another Western

It was just serendipity that I chose 3-10 to Yuma from Netflix and it arrived just after my book group finished reading So Brave, Young, and Handsome. And it involved those Pinkertons again. So FYI I've included an excerpt from Wikipedia on those famous detectives of the late 1800s:

We Never Sleep", the famous motto of the Pinkerton Agency, redirects here. For the 1917 film starring Harold Lloyd, see We Never Sleep (film).

The Pinkerton National Detective Agency, usually shortened to the Pinkertons, was a private U.S. security guard and detective agency established by Allan Pinkerton in 1850. Pinkerton had become famous when he foiled a plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln, who later hired Pinkerton agents for his personal security during the Civil War.[citation needed] Pinkerton's agents performed services ranging from security guarding to private military contracting work. At its height, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency employed more agents than there were members of the standing army of the United States of America, causing the state of Ohio to outlaw the agency due to fears it could be hired out as a private army or militia.

The Pinkertons engaged in this movie were employed to guard a stagecoach from the Ben Wade's (Russell Crowe) gang of murderous, thieving scum-of-the-earth outlaws. They didn't really stand a chance and somehow our protagonist, rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) gets mixed up in trying to bring Ben to justice via an edge of your seat, shoot 'em up trip to catch the train at Yuma by 3:10. Of course it's much more complicated than that, and to tell you the truth I don't think I have enough testosterone running through my veins to really enjoy this kind of bloody, rough riding drama. It gives a kind of a sad twist of fate moralistic ending, but again it was just too gritty a tale for my liking.

Really, I kept thinking, how do these guys go to the bathroom out there on the dusty trail? And just how bad do they smell with no showers for days, weeks (months?!) on end . . .not to mention all of that blood and guts staining what was probably 100% cotton or wool clothing!

Spaghetti Western

So Young, Brave, and Handsome by Leif Enger, was our book choice for this month. And we were hard pressed to find a food theme for it, but if only I had thought about this genre, the Spaghetti Western, I would have served spaghetti! But I didn't, and so we had white bean chili, a wonderful salad, rolls, and hermits for dessert. None of which would have likely come out of a Zane Gray novel, which is what I compare this book to, even though I've never read a Zane Gray novel. I have heard enough about the quintessential western to know that our choice certainly fit the bill.

This first-person narration gives us at the helm of our journey, Monte Becket, who is certainly not a prototypical western hero, but he provides us one. Having authored a one-hit wonder along the likes of Riders of the Purple Sage (by Zane Gray) he has spent several years trying to krank out other novels, to no avail. Having quit his average-Joe job at the Post Office he begins to feel the pressure of writer's block. Enter Glendon Hale, hero (or anti-hero depending on how you look at it) quiet builder of boats with a sketchy past, including leaving the love of his life some twenty years past.

Glendon suddenly decides he needs redemption and sets out on a quest to find and get forgiveness. He asks Monte to accompany him, and Monte says yes with the blessing of his own loving family. The two set off on what becomes an increasingly dangerous journey, as Glendon's past is brought to light and the law still has an interest in him.

This journey to redemption is well written, almost lyrical, and through Monte we get an insightful look at the characters with all of their humanness--frailties and strengths alike.

The antagonist of the story is the archetype of evil, Siringo, an ex-Pinkerton (you learn something new everyday!) and he is unrelenting in his pursuit of the two. And of course that makes the story!

There is a lovely irony in the story that Monte, having written a great romantic western that people recognize him for, when living out a tale similar to it, is completely overwhelmed by the true grittiness of such a life.

What I particularly liked about this story, besides it being a quick and easy read, is that the author researched his history, and the people and places he mentions are true, outside of his fictional characters, that is. I love the fact that the Hundred and One was really a ranch in Ponca City, Oklahoma and his description was accurate. We also get a glimpse of the end of an era, the cowboy age, and the beginning of a new one, with the use of automobiles.

So though it was a long and dusty trail, with some shoot-em-ups, there is a type of reconciliation. But it might not be the one you expected.

New Year, New You?

Nope, it ain't gonna happen! The list of changes needed would be overwhelming. But!!
I do resolve to get some things done. Being an avid list maker, as noted in an earlier post, I have already succeeded in accomplishing some things on my short list.

Monday was the beginning. These things were done:

Art work to studio for framing. I've had these two items a long time (one over 2 years) so this is big, on second thought, it's HUGE!

Bags of used clothing to thrift shop for donation. Again, those have been sitting here for a couple of months.

Tickets to the Broadway play Wicked in Louisville on January 18. This is big in so many ways! First, I bought three tickets. So that means the Beave is going with! (I should get an Olympic medal for this fact alone!) Second, it means he gets to invite his friend, and I get to chaperon their first "date." Does it get any better? Why, yes it does. January 18 is a Sunday and though the play is in the evening, the next day is an army training holiday so we won't have to worry about getting home late, we can actually go out for dinner afterward. That should make for a very nice evening of culture and manners.

So the short list is waning; the long list is still, well, long. And while I make no resolutions I do aspire to accomplish those things steadily over the next six months. Hey, I have to stay busy until Ward returns from Iraq!

Days of Auld Lang Syne

Isn't it fitting that my first post of the new year include the following by Robert Burns:

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old times since ?

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And surely you’ll buy your pint cup !
And surely I’ll buy mine !
And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine ;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine† ;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

And there’s a hand my trusty friend !
And give us a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS


Never mind the fact that I'm not sure what exactly this scottish verse means!

I've heard it so many times on New Year's Eve and it's been in so many of my favorite old classic movies that it stirs my heart every time I hear it.