September 14, 2007

Stayed and stood



Have to get another pet peeve off of my chest. Have you heard people use the word "stood" as the past tense of "stay?" So, instead of saying "I stayed out too late," they will say "I stood out too late"?

Last night I heard Rod Serling use "stood" instead of "stayed" in the prelude to a Twilight Zone episode and I almost choked on my dinner. Rod Serling? I'm just fed up with this one.

Just to clarify: the past tense of "stay" is "stayed." The past tense of "stand" is "stood."

The expression "I should have stood in bed" is attributed to boxing manager Joe Jacobs regarding his attendance at a 1935 World Series game (isn't the visual of "stood in bed" hilarious?).

It was an especially cold day, and when asked what he thought of baseball, Jacobs responded with the classic quip. Jacobs was also responsible for coining the phrase, "We wuz robbed."

Jacobs was obviously a colorful character who could get away with throwing around bad grammar and malapropisms. Unless you're a colorful character, however, please don't say "stood" when you mean "stayed."

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