5 ms·

Is stay sleep grammatically incorrect? Seems like it should be "stay asleep", but I'm no English major.

by crazypyro 12y ago

gliptic 12y ago
"stay sleep" actually kind of means the opposite, as in they can't postpone sleep.
- roeme 12y ago
  Interesting, I never encountered this phrase as well – is it dialect?
  - disputin 12y ago
    A stay of execution.
  - dmm 12y ago
    One of the definitions of stay is to stop something. So "I can't stay sleep." means "I can't stop sleep". Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet: V, iii: "..But he which bore my letter, Friar John, Was stay'd by accident, and yesternight Return'd my letter back. "
  - wavefunction 12y ago
    It's just an awkward/antiquated phrasing. "Stay" isn't used much anymore except for "stay of execution."
    - dllthomas 12y ago
      Also, "stay one's hand". Still rare and a bit antiquated, but occurs more frequently than "stay" in this sense more generally (... is my impression). For some data: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=stay+my+hand+%2B+stay+your+hand+%2B+stay+his+hand+%2B+stay+her+hand+%2B+stay+their+hands%2Cstay+of+execution&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2C%28stay%20my%20hand%20%2B%20stay%20your%20hand%20%2B%20stay%20his%20hand%20%2B%20stay%20her%20hand%20%2B%20stay%20their%20hands%29%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cstay%20of%20execution%3B%2Cc0 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=stay+my+hand+%...
  - LukeShu 12y ago
    I (USA/Indiana) have mostly only encountered it in legal matters (recently: "Judge Young stayed today's order until ...").
tormeh 12y ago
If you were a God, you could stay a storm.
- Domenic_S 12y ago
  Which would be to keep the storm at bay - but the article is talking about how old people DO keep sleep at bay, they DO "stay sleep"
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
ern 12y ago
Stay = delay in some contexts. But in the context of the OP's content about disrupted and fragmented sleep, it should probably be ''stay asleep'' as you say. Probably a typo or something.
dang 12y ago
You're right. Since the title is kind of baity anyway with its Upworthy 'this', we changed it (from "This could explain why older adults can't stay sleep") to the article's first sentence, truncated to fit.
malvim 12y ago
While we're at it, does "a loss of neurons for sleep" really make sense in this case? Sounded weird to me... Is someone really losing neurons FOR sleep? What does this mean? (Not criticizing, really. As a non-native English speaker, this sounded weird, but I might well be wrong. So I'm asking a genuine question, albeit with a "I think this might be wrong" tone)
- serf 12y ago
  Yes, it makes sense. The article implies that there are losses of a specific neuron which resides in a specific part of the brain which is thought to control sleep. The neurons in this story are tasked with helping an individual sleep, thus the title 'Loss of neurons for sleep...' is correct. The neurons in this article are used by the individual FOR sleeping. I could understand someone interpreting it as a barter or trade. "I will give you these neurons FOR that sleep", however that's not intended. Perhaps "Loss of neurons (for sleep).." or "Loss of neurons which aid in sleep.." would be even more clear.

Is stay sleep grammatically incorrect? Seems like it should be "stay asleep", but I'm no English major.

gliptic 12y ago

"stay sleep" actually kind of means the opposite, as in they can't postpone sleep.

roeme 12y ago
Interesting, I never encountered this phrase as well – is it dialect?
- disputin 12y ago
  A stay of execution.
- dmm 12y ago
  One of the definitions of stay is to stop something. So "I can't stay sleep." means "I can't stop sleep". Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet: V, iii: "..But he which bore my letter, Friar John, Was stay'd by accident, and yesternight Return'd my letter back. "
- wavefunction 12y ago
  It's just an awkward/antiquated phrasing. "Stay" isn't used much anymore except for "stay of execution."
  - dllthomas 12y ago
    Also, "stay one's hand". Still rare and a bit antiquated, but occurs more frequently than "stay" in this sense more generally (... is my impression). For some data: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=stay+my+hand+%2B+stay+your+hand+%2B+stay+his+hand+%2B+stay+her+hand+%2B+stay+their+hands%2Cstay+of+execution&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2C%28stay%20my%20hand%20%2B%20stay%20your%20hand%20%2B%20stay%20his%20hand%20%2B%20stay%20her%20hand%20%2B%20stay%20their%20hands%29%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cstay%20of%20execution%3B%2Cc0 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=stay+my+hand+%...
- LukeShu 12y ago
  I (USA/Indiana) have mostly only encountered it in legal matters (recently: "Judge Young stayed today's order until ...").

tormeh 12y ago

If you were a God, you could stay a storm.

Domenic_S 12y ago
Which would be to keep the storm at bay - but the article is talking about how old people DO keep sleep at bay, they DO "stay sleep"

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

ern 12y ago

Stay = delay in some contexts. But in the context of the OP's content about disrupted and fragmented sleep, it should probably be ''stay asleep'' as you say. Probably a typo or something.

dang 12y ago

You're right. Since the title is kind of baity anyway with its Upworthy 'this', we changed it (from "This could explain why older adults can't stay sleep") to the article's first sentence, truncated to fit.

malvim 12y ago

While we're at it, does "a loss of neurons for sleep" really make sense in this case? Sounded weird to me... Is someone really losing neurons FOR sleep? What does this mean? (Not criticizing, really. As a non-native English speaker, this sounded weird, but I might well be wrong. So I'm asking a genuine question, albeit with a "I think this might be wrong" tone)

serf 12y ago
Yes, it makes sense. The article implies that there are losses of a specific neuron which resides in a specific part of the brain which is thought to control sleep. The neurons in this story are tasked with helping an individual sleep, thus the title 'Loss of neurons for sleep...' is correct. The neurons in this article are used by the individual FOR sleeping. I could understand someone interpreting it as a barter or trade. "I will give you these neurons FOR that sleep", however that's not intended. Perhaps "Loss of neurons (for sleep).." or "Loss of neurons which aid in sleep.." would be even more clear.