Laying Or Lying?

[Baby_Sham]

Hi, I'm trying to write something but I'm stuck on the correct word to use. I want to say I was "lying in a field full of buttercups", but should it be lying or laying?

Have tried Google, but am still unsure.

Thanks :-)

[Bert45]

Your confusion is understandable as I don't think I have ever heard anyone on TV or radio say 'lie' or 'lying' when one or the other is the correct word to use. Almost everybody says 'lay' or 'laying'. Bob Dylan has a lot to answer for with "Lay, lady, lay" (It should be "Lie, lady, lie"). While it is true that he could be asking his girlfriend to tell him untruths, the next line makes it clear that he wants her to lie on that big brass bed. Then there is that song by Snow Patrol with the chorus "If I lay here/ If I just lay here/ Would you lie with me and just forget the world?" Two wrong and one right. My Chambers Dictionary gives one of the meanings of 'lay' as 'lie' (archaic, nautical and ILLITERATE) (my caps).

[elliemay1]

Why not turn it around and say, ' As I lay in a field of buttercups I ...'

[Davemano]

Just say that you were 'resting'.

[Jackdaw33]

Funny verb.

As I was lying...
As I lay...

[shoota]

'I was recumbent in a meadow of ranunculus...'

[Cloverjo]

I agree with others who said "lying". You could say "I lay in a field", but in the tense you are using you'd say "I was lying in a field".

[Cloverjo]

Sorry, just saw jackdaw and others have already said what I said.

[elliemay1]

Would love to know what you were doing in that field of buttercups and with whom??

[Davemano]

Chap in town centre today was laid down full of beer.