The (Unfortunate) Power of Prayer?

A common complaint of grammarians is that people use the word "lay" when they ought to use the word "lie." People will say something like "I need to go lay down." but that is incorrect. It should be, "I need to go lie down." You don't lay down, you lay things down. "I spent the day laying down the carpet."

Where did this confusion come from? I suspect a common childhood prayer contributes to the problem. This one:

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

It reinforces, nightly, that when one rests, one lays down rather than lies down. Yet the first line is correct, if worded strangely. Something is being laid down, the 'me' of the line. "Now I lay me down to sleep." Without the 'me' it would rightly be "Now I lie down to sleep."

Why isn't the shorter, less apt to cause later confusion, version of the first line used? I can think of a couple reasons. Who would wants a prayer, of all things, where it is said, "I lie" somewhere in it? Especially as it is taught to children who will almost certainly point out that they aren't lying and lying is a sin, isn't it? Also, 'lay' in the first line rhymes with 'pray' in the second and fourth lines and that can make the prayer a bit easier to remember. As this is taught to children, ease of learning is advantageous.

Reconsidering Jubilee

I had been planning on attending the Jubilee College Olde English Faire in Peoria, IL again this year mainly to see the final performance(s) of Renaissance Sword Theatre, but now while RST will change in composition, it will continue. But that alone is not what has me thinking things over. I had been planning on driving to Des Moines and picking up foolscap001 and driving on to Peoria where to save money we'd split a room. Something came up and now he is unable to go to Jubilee. This is certainly not pleasing to him, and I had been looking forward to his company on the trip, his help with navigation in the area, and of course the reduced room expense.

Now I find myself debating just how badly I want to go Jubilee. The solo drive, assuming Jay will be elsewhere (very likely), is a non-issue. If I stay in the same area as last year, the navigation shouldn't be just too bad as it's sort of the edge of town. The issue is mainly one of how inexpensive (and note there is an important difference between inexpensive and cheap) a room can I find in case I end up paying for it all myself. Looking around the web has been rather discouraging so far. I rather doubt I can find another person willing to share a room and its expense.