"Robert Bonomi" wrote in message
rvers.com...
In article ,
Jim Weir wrote:
Are you kidding? The people around here lay awake at night worrying
about
whether anal-retentive should be hyphenated.

Bah! *Everybody* knows that the mark-up is a full colon. Or, as our
Brit friends would say, "Full colon, full stop."


Not a full colon, but a semi-colon with a polyp. Otherwise you would have
observed and noted the improper use of a transitive verb where an
intransitive one should be. One does not "lay" awake. One *lies* awake
at night. Lie, lay, lain ---weak verb. Lay, laid, laid -- strong verb
taking an object.