The "Are Youse An English "Freak" Or Just An English "Freek" Story!

It was an ordinary day.  Once again reading one of my favorite newspaper columns known as "The Scribbler" which features weekly stories by Jack Brubaker, aka..."The Scribbler."    Today's entry is "Yeah-yeah."  I've said that many, many times during my lifetime, but never gave it a thought that it just might bother someone when I said it.  Well, Dr. Scribblerscold began noticing "Yeah-yeah" about two or three months ago, which means it's probably much older than that. "Yeah-yeah" is uttered as one word, often by itself and sometimes at the beginning of a response to another speaker's comment.  You know...I say, "I saw a hugh blimp pass by yesterday." and you say "yeah-yeah". Well, the use of yeah-yeah is spreading quickly, as such trends tend to do.  If you are not saying it, congratulations.  You are talking against the tide.  Sometimes this sort of thing is called "verbal punctuation," as with "ah" or "uh" or even "um."  Dr. Scribblerscold's high school English teacher employed a unique form of verbal punctuation.  She said "awa" nearly every time she paused in her lectures.  For example: "William Wordsworth wrote- "awa" -The World is to Much with Us."  These expressions don't mean anything.  They are dropped into speech just as "you know" or "I mean" or "like" (as in, like, you know what I mean) generally used mindlessly and endlessly in colloquial speech.  "Yeah-yeah" differs a bit because it sometimes seems to mean something or perhaps you may hear "un-huh" as an indication of you agreeing with what has been said.  These phrases are known as "filler phrases" or "verbal litter" since they fill in parts of a sentence when the speaker can't figure what else to say.  These filler phrases are forms of "verbal punctuation" and should be treated the same as a comma or semicolon or other written punctuation marks when they are unnecessary or out of place.  When I was in 11th grade, my English  teacher, Mrs. Eisenhart, said that I would often use "filler phrases" so that my story I was supposed to tell to the class would take the necessary amount of time.  I only needed about two-thirds of a story as long as I could continue to add "filler phrases" throughout my story.  Got pretty good at it, but when my grade slipped to a "C-" I began to stop using the "filler phrases"...you know!  Another thing that Dr. Scribblescold wonders is why do so many people use "lay" when they mean "lie," as in "Go lay down and think about this problem until your head hurts."  Unlike saying "yeah-yeah," which is one of the more innocent irrelevancies to enter the language, confusing "lay" with "lie" is grammatical heresy.  People have been confusing "lay" and "lie" for centuries and that will NEVER change.  When you are tired...do you go and lay down or do you lie down?  As for me, if I'm tired I don't say anything, I just hit the sofa or bed.  Nevertheless, people have confused lay and lie for centuries and probably will continue to do so until their tongues are tied.  Do you know how much that hurts?  I couldn't speak for days after my tongue was tied.  The internet is crammed with sites explaning the difference between "lie" and "lay."  One site puts it very simply with "The key thing is lie does not take a direct object.  Lay always does."  But...who can understand what I just typed?  Well...you lie down on a bed while you lay a wreath on a grave.  Got that!  I could care less how you say it.  So....what do you think...is it OK to say 'lay' instead of 'lie'?  One might be technically correct, but who knows which one is correct?  Both mean the same to me!  And...if you're not writing it or typing it, what does it matter.  Actually...I think it is time to go and lay down a bit and rest my weary back....or should that be go and lie down a bit and rest my weary back.  Well, by the time you figure it out.....I'll probably be asleep on the sofa!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.