Lay or Stick

Myths Yankees tell to scare real people.

[wolf]

Small amounts "stick".

Once it gets over an inch-and-a-half, it lays.

[Cloud]

I've never even heard "lay" for snow.

[Shawnee123]

The two are confused because of the conjugation of the two verbs:

lie: lie, lying, lay, (have) lain
lay: lay, laying, laid, (have) laid

Lie: to be in or move into an esp. horizontal position on a surface:

The mechanic was lying on his back underneath my car.
The cat just loves to lie in front of the fire.
She lay back in the dentist's chair and tried to relax.
Lie still a moment, John.
He lies awake at night, worrying.
He lay down on the bed and cried.
I usually lie down (=rest/sleep) for an hour after lunch.
Snow lay thickly over the fields.


The verb lay means to put (something) in esp. a flat or horizontal position, usually carefully or for a particular purpose:

She laid the baby (down) in its cot.
I'll lay your coats on the bed upstairs.
Perhaps we should lay paper over the floor while we're decorating the room .
She laid aside her book and went to answer the phone.
The dog laid its ears back (=put them flat against its head) and howled.
He laid down his knife and fork, saying he couldn't possibly eat any more.
Lay the rug flat on the ground.
There will be some disruption for the next few weeks while contractors lay a new cable/sewer.
We're having a new carpet laid in the hall next week.
They've been laying bricks (=making a wall with bricks) for two weeks and the first floor is already finished.

As we are not "putting" the snow into a horizontal position, the verb "lay" is correct, not as the original unconjugated "lay" but as the conjugated tense of "lie" as shown above.

So lay is correct, though in a sense UG was correct in that it is a form of the verb lie.

Clear as mud?

[Elspode]

I've changed my original vote. I've decided that I would much rather have a lay than a stick.

Who's handing these things out, again?

[Elspode]

I was always taught that *things* lay and *people* lie.