Slay, ?slayed?

[Wilson Gray]

FWIW, I have only an off-brand Webster's - "New World" - from 1996 and
it agrees with Giles, except that it specifies that "slayed" is
grammatical only in figurative uses, such as, e.g. "... slayed his
rivals [in a rapping contest]" vs., e.g. "... slew his rivals [on the
battlefield]." Therefore, Giles is close, but gets no cigar, since
Buffy literally slew the vampire.

At this point, I'm going to drop back five and punt.

-Wilson  Gray

On Nov 3, 2004, at 1:31 PM, Jim Parish wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jim Parish <jparish at SIUE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Slay, ?slayed?
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> --------
>
> To be specific: there is an episode of BtVS in which Buffy is talking
> to
> her friends about a vampire which she "slayed - or is it slew?"; Giles,
> the librarian, passing nearby, replies, "Both are correct."
>
> Jim Parish
>
> Quoting "Mullins, Bill" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
>> Subject:      Re: Slay, ?slayed?
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -------
> --
>>
>> I bet the TV show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" has something to do with
>> it.
>>
>>
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM>
>>> Subject:      Slay, ?slayed?
>>> --------------------------------------------------------------
>>> -----------------
>>>
>>> Newsweek  November 8, 2004 p.56
>>>
>>> "He simply walked onstage and slayed his rivals...."
>>>
>>> This is at least the third time this year that I've seen "slew"
>>> replaced in print by "slayed." Language change in progress?
>>> (I'm ignoring "walked onstage" vs. "walked onto the stage.")
>>>
>>> -Wilson Gray
>>>
>>
>
>
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