It’s a great song and everything, but the lyric, “I just want to lay with you,” contains one of my pet peeve grammar mistakes.

Normally I’m not one of those grammar fanatics who loves to throw around arcane terms and illogical rules. But this one – come on, folks. “Lay” takes an object, as in “I lay the book down.” In this case, the lyricist meant “I just want to lie with you.” Nice thought, when you get it right.

When I hear “I just want to lay with you,” I see two poultry BFFs, one crooning to the other about collaborative egg production.

Ahh, but I know what you’re thinking. Maybe the lyricist means “I want to get laid.” In fact, the lyricist almost certainly does means that, but that’s not what she’s saying.

And isn’t that what grammar is really about – saying exactly what you mean?