Post to the Host
Host Garrison Keillor answers your questions about life, love, writing, authors, and of course, A Prairie Home Companion.
Dear Garrison: I have just
July 15, 2005 |
Dear Garrison:
I have just listened to the show performed in Atlanta, where you say to the opera singer that her role in La Traviata requires her to sing lying on her back, "lying prone," you say.
Oops. "Prone" means to lie on one's stomach. "Supine" means to lie on one's back. This can be remembered because "supine" sounds like "spine". I don't mind that the world at large doesn't understand this distinction, but a man who has made it part of his act to point out the difference between lay and lie, and between nauseous and nauseated, and other fine points of usage, should not have made this mistake, and should never make this mistake again.
Cheryl Gatling
Syracuse, NY
Yes, ma'am.
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