It's apparently also been used on English speakers to confuse them about the difference between the verbs "to lie" and "to lay." It's damned hard to find a contemporary writer, novelist or essayist, who comprehends this: "The chicken was lying in the straw, laying eggs."
Shouldn't that be:
"The (insert adjectival form of the name of political party you most abhor) chicken was lying about laying eggs?"
