That’s it, I give up….

I agree, misuse of lay is becoming so frequent. A BBC reporter said the Queen would ‘lay’ in state. I sent a complaint.

Yesterday in an ad on Classic FM, I heard that I can go on a ‘handcrafted’ journey with Fred Olsen Cruises!

Fancy that! Maybe I could knit one myself.

The verb "to lay" is transitive i.e. requires a direct object. In the sentence "Now I lay me down to sleep" the direct object is "me".
The verb "to lie" is intransitive.

suzikyoo

I grind my molars whenever I hear 'she was stood' instead of 'standing'!

That grates on me as well suzikyoo I was sat - ugh

What drives me mad is the overuse of the word “literally” in the wrong context instead of the using word “actually”.

Funny you (Septimia) should be complaining about mistakes when you wrote BCC instead of BBC.

Now I lay me down is correct. You are laying something down in this case yourself. Laying down on it's own is wrong.

Ok, my pet hates. Lay/lie, yes.
One criterion, several criteria. Bbc don't seem to know the difference.
Am = ante meridiem = before midday
Pm = post meridiem = after midday
So 12 am and 12 pm could be the same time but on different days (pay attention at the back there). So you can't say either.
Please use midday and midnight.

An old prayer comes to mind: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I die before I wake , I pray the Lord my soul to take. An example of old fashioned language using the verb “to lay”. The newsreaders etc are only following the traditional use of the word.

Another point. Nobody is taking into account local dialects.... Such language snobbery....

Oh, and, “Proper backed up”!

Our local traffic reporter tells people to avoid certain areas because they’re, “well busy”.

I have been reading several of the posts on here. I am actually quite shocked by some of them. Are none of you aware that language evolves over time and words take on a broader meaning. Maybe some would prefer that we spoke 'Ye Olde English' still. I happen to love the way English was written in the 1920s but I would never expect my grandchildren to write in this way. Wanders off contemplating life, the Universe and everything

I grind my molars whenever I hear 'she was stood' instead of 'standing'!

My children call me the grammar police ? One thing that grates me is when someone says “happy birthing day” instead of “happy birthday”.

To the OP: I quite agree with you.

Germanshepherdsmum

Does anyone else find not being able (even politely) to correct posters on GN makes them want to scream? I have read several times recently that X is ‘a mind of information’. You can’t say anything so on it goes …

It does annoy me, I have to admit…

Does anyone else find not being able (even politely) to correct posters on GN makes them want to scream? I have read several times recently that X is ‘a mind of information’. You can’t say anything so on it goes …

I think we are more and more copying the US. My granddaughter says dirt instead of earth, candy instead of sweets, frosting instead of icing etc...she watches US kids programmes.

And she, I, me, her are all confused these days. We were taught grammar at school. I expect there is not so much attention paid now and I've heard teachers use incorrect grammar.

One of my pet dislikes is 'Can I get' instated of 'Please may I have'. But hey, life moves on and there are bigger problems to worry about!

Witzend

Maybe the proofreaders (if any) are equally clueless, MarinaL.
I’ve known the odd person with a degree in English who still makes the odd basic mistake, never mind e.g. not knowing the difference between disinterested and uninterested, discreet/discrete, etc.

I think they are. I follow a blogger who claims to have a degree in journalism. His written word is awful. I'm not perfect myself but have not trained in a profession where I need to write.

Hattiehelga

Soda pop- the of instead of have is my pet hate and makes me so angry.Also irritating is 10pm tonight or 10am this morning. PM has already identified night and AM morning.

Even worse - I've heard them say "12 pm"! Has nobody heard the word "noon"? Or "midday"?

("12 pm" would actually be midnight, wouldn't it?)

I spoke to our 5 year old grandson on the phone the other day.
“How are you?”, I said.
“I’m good, thanks.”
Aargh!! ? (Don’t interfere, Grandma.)
I was dying to say that he was well, not good, but I’ll try to explain to him about adjectives and adverbs when he’s older…

Germanshepherdsmum

Yesterday a BBC reporter referred to the people having to finishing filing past the Queen’s coffin as needing to finish ‘in time for the Queen to be cleared away’. As though she were the remnants of a meal.

That's terrible!

SparklyGrandma

On my church WhatsApp group, I got into a discussion after a member claimed that ER II was at Richard III’s. funeral. My inner pedant, not far from the surface, said she wasn’t.

I am totally mystfied. Had your acquaintance confused the late Queen (Elizabeth II ) with Elizabeth I (Tudor) or with Richard's eldest niece, Elizabeth of York.

Not that it matters - except to your and my inner pedant - Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 and flung without ceremony into an umarked grave, so no member either of the House of York or representative of the man who was to become Henry VII bothered to attend that funeral, if such it could be called.

And none of the three Elizabeths mentioned attended either Richard I's (the Lionheart) or Richard II's funerals either. The first of these took place in 1199, the second in 1399.

Unless the borrowed Dr. Who's Tardis that is.

It starts with good school teaching, if the teacher is at least interested in their trade, the pupils will learn.
Some of the teaching in our schools is diabolical. Our children deserve the best, sadly we let them down.