I have recently seen many uses of “payed” as past tense of “pay”.
Words sometimes have different past tenses. “Payed” is already used as the past when “pay” means “to let out a rope”.
The past of "fly’ is “flew”- except in baseball where “flied” is used- “He flied out.”
Some words have two past tenses- burned/burnt, kneeled/knelt; with the regular form more common in AmE: dreamed/dreamt, spell/spelt, learned/learnt.
Other cases where they vary: lighted/lit, pleaded/pled, slew/slayed.
Is “payed” becoming accepted as an alternative to “paid”?
The correct past tense of the verb pay is paid, as long as the word is used in the financial or transactional sense. If the verb pay is used in a nautical sense, the correct form is payed. Payed has a common and historical use as a nautical term having to do with ropes and ship hulls.
These are the only uses in which you should be using payed: When dealing with cable, rope, or chain being let out by slacking or the sealing of a wooden ship.
8 Likes
I’d definitely say that’s non-standard usage.
2 Likes
You sayed it.
7 Likes
Tell that to my colleague who sent me an emailed saying she “payed for” a reading website for the kids in her class.
1 Like
I’ll leave that to you. 
1 Like
It’s no fun if people just look up what the OP couldn’t be bothered to. We need to guess.
3 Likes
Can’t. I need her password.
Payed is used in a similar fashion to the simple past/past participle usage in the Glaswegian Scottish dialect of plaid/played. With the exception that it is generally comprehensible in the spoken form.
Well plaid
3 Likes
Yer accent is showing.
I am quite aware that “paid” is the currently accepted form.
Since you apparently have difficulties in reading comprehension, I’ll post it again.
I gave other examples where irregular forms have been replaced or at least supplemented by regular forms, which obviously went over your head.
Just so you know, languages change. Now, take two “harrumphs” and go curl up with a copy of the collected clumns of William Safire.
1 Like
Fowler’s King’s English 1928 edition for me, squire.
And I tend to skim your posts.
3 Likes
Ah can ya feel that British chill in the air. Biting, inn’t?
1 Like
It’s a lovely sunny morning and I am feeling radiant, sir.
1 Like
They cancelled school and put us on remote for two days bc snow and cold are now reason to close the buildings and protect the children from global warming I guess. Jesus.
Can I admonish you for this one?
2 Likes
I feel that we should all type more slower for those of us with reading difficulties.
3 Likes