Lay vs. Lie

I think I hate the word "lie" and I don't mean in the context of not telling the truth but rather in the sense of "lie down" or when you're reclining.

For the longest time, I've got these two words messed up. And I blame the lack of grammar instruction in primary school, erroneous usage of the American people and just bad grammar from fanfic writers (not to mention bad beta work) who perpetuate the wrongful usage of these two words. There are times where I would use them correctly and others where I totally don't but it's through those reasons that the grammatically incorrect word now seems so more correct than the right one and that's just plain wrong.

And I'm hyper-aware of this. It's like my brain just won't let go of it, like it's on a quest to correct itself after years of being misinformed and I stop at every single "lie" or "lying" or "lay" to examine whether or not it's been used correctly. I think I'm obsessing over it a bit and that's never healthy... Damn you transitive and intransitive verbs! I hadn't even heard of them before my second year of Japanese and it didn't even occur to me that they existed in English! Like I said, there was a lack of grammar instruction in primary school.

I hate times like this. It just bugs me to know I've been under a misconception. Even now, I want to use lay when I mean lie and it's wrong, wrong, wrong so I can't... :\