Roy Peter Clark, fellow Providence College English cavalier and Vice President and Senior Scholar at The Poynter Institute, offers this insightful look at the distinction between lie and lay. Here’s a taste:
As a writer I may want to stretch the language to the snapping point for effect, but as a reader I demand attention to standard English, not just for clarity but also to avoid distractions that would make the act of reading less fluent. On the other hand, when the bank robber tells me to, “Lay on the floor face down with your hands over your head,” I’m disinclined to respond, “Excuse me, sir, but don’t you mean ‘lie down’?”
He also has a snappy blog for those inclined to better their writing. I like his philosophy on spelling:
No reason exists to master spelling unless you can use it to make meaning as a reader and writer. The magic will not work if you write allusion when you mean illusion, except to turn you, like Shakespeare’s Bottom, into a fool wearing donkey ears, an ass and an ars.
