All Comments on 'The House of Silken Ties Ch. 07'

In your stories, you keep using the word "prone" for the position the body is in when the client is pushed onto the bed. "Prone" means "face down", and it is apparent from the subsequent descriptions that the client is face up. The correct positional word is "supine" for "face up".

I love word usage. Thanks for bringing this up.

Supine is indeed a good word meaning "lying face up." It is just a bit unusual and perhaps would sound a little strange to some readers.

Prone, on the other hand, is a more familiar word. Although the first definition in most dictionaries is "lying face down," there usually is a secondary usage meaning simply "lying down." That was the sense I intended.

And of course, we all know that Cleopatra said to Marc Antony, "I am not prone to argue." Seemed to fit.

I think I can speak on behalf of the numerous readers who are familiar with both words and find your use of "prone" confusing. While the OED does provide the definition you use as a secondary meaning, it describes it as an inexact sense and specifies that it should not be used in reference to people, animals, or indeed anything with a distinct front and back side. I really doubt that most people use or understand this word as you have asserted.

Using an unfamiliar word gives your readers the opportunity to expand their horizons. Using a familiar word in an inexact way pulls your readers out of the action of your story as they try to figure out what you meant. Personally, I think the former is preferable.