'Stand up or lay down'

Sunbed sign in CroydonHere's a good example of lie/lay confusion.

I don't want to be too prescriptivist or anything, but most people would agree that the sign should read 'Stand up or lie down...'

I'm not going to go into too much detail about 'lie' and 'lay' because doing so would probably give me flashbacks to my teaching days, but there's some useful information about them on the British Council website.

I took this photo in Croydon last year, as I recall.

Incidentally, I think the rhyme would scan better if the second line read 'Come in and get brown'.

Oh dear, I've just had a flashback to my performance poetry days...

1 comment:

Fran Hill said...

I think it should be:

Stand up if you like.
Or pose like a dancer.
Or lie yourself down.
Come in, and get cancer.