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Rick Lanser asked about the decline of the use of "paid" and its
replacement by "payed". Neither is wrong in usage, although the "aid"
form is certainly more grammatically correct. I came across a similar
editing problem involving "laid" and "layed", and we came up with the
following rule of thumb:
laid = set down/lay down on top of (yes, _that_ too... <grin>)
layed = wrote a song (a lay), defrocked a priest/minister (made him a
member of the laity), a heavy metal referred to in dialect ("filled
him full of layed")
leyed = greeted a newcomer to Hawaii
--Geoff Hart #8^{)}
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Disclaimer: These comments are my own and don't represent the opinions
of the Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada.
