Slay, ?slayed?

[James A. Landau]

Wilson Gray wrote:

> 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.")

What's wrong with "walked onstage"?  In stage jargon at least, "onstage" and
"offstage" are perfectly legitimate adverbs that also double as adjectives.
MWCD11 lists them both as "adv or adj" with surprisingly late dates of 1925 and
1921 respectively.  Do you have any trouble with "walked downhill"?

About that Clausewitz quote: I should thank you for bringing it to my
atttention that Clausewitz's much-quoted maxim is translated badly by the use of the
word "politics".

     - Jim Landau