# Grammar Question: Hanged vs Hung **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 13, 2006, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219 "2006-11-13T07:58:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219/1 "2006-11-13T07:58:56Z")
Ever since Saddam was sentenced to die in Iraq, I have heard supposedly intelligent reporters say, “He is going to be hung.” Unless I slept through some new grammar rule, I thought the exception to the grammar rule was a person sentenced to die by hanging was to be _hanged_. A picture is _hung_ on the wall, but a person is _hanged_ by the neck. Or were grammar rules re-written while I was hanging around locker rooms showers to see who was hung? ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219/2 "2006-11-13T08:02:22Z")
He was well hung…so they hanged him by the balls. sorry, couldn’t resist ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219/3 "2006-11-13T08:04:05Z")
Saddam may be hung for all I know, but that won’t matter after he’s hanged. The grammar hasn’t changed, as far as I know. But hung/hanged is a common mistake, and I’m not surprised if the newscasters make it - particularly if they’re speaking extemporaneously. If they’re reading, there’s not much of an excuse. I don’t know if TV stations have copy editors the way newspapers do, though. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219/4 "2006-11-13T08:20:42Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] Saddam may be hung for all I know [/QUOTE] Of course he is. How do you think he got to be such a big dicktator? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@The\_Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Octagon)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219/5 "2006-11-13T08:33:09Z")
I think it’s just been too long since anyone has been hanged around here that they figure it’s old usage or poor grammar. It sounds bad. It is bad, but it also sounds bad, grammatically and orally. The consonants jive - one’s way in the back and the other’s up front. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219/6 "2006-11-13T08:41:41Z")
It seems to me that the lingo’s changed a tad over the years. From [here](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hang): > [@](#): > > —Usage note Hang has two forms for the past tense and past participle, hanged and hung. The historically older form hanged is now used exclusively in the sense of causing or putting to death: He was sentenced to be hanged by the neck until dead. In the sense of legal execution, hung is also quite common and is standard in all types of speech and writing except in legal documents. When legal execution is not meant, hung has become the more frequent form: The prisoner hung himself in his cell. From [here](http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary), > [@](#): > > 1 a : to remain suspended or fastened to some point above without support from below : DANGLE b : to die by hanging – often hanged in the past \ c : to be connected as something relevant or related \ & > [@](#): > > usage For both transitive and intransitive senses 1b the past and past participle hung, as well as hanged, is standard. Hanged is most appropriate for official executions \ but hung is also used \. Hung is more appropriate for less formal hangings \. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219/7 "2006-11-13T08:43:39Z")
Old Graffiti: **Reagan should be bloody well hung!** _ **He is, he is. - Nancy** _ ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219/8 "2006-11-13T09:36:09Z")
In olden days, men who did nasty things were hung. Nowadays, most women agree size doesn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Honeydew\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19b73/32.png) [@Honeydew\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honeydew_1)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219/9 "2006-11-13T10:18:00Z")
The old saying is “People are hanged; meat is hung”. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219/10 "2006-11-13T10:21:02Z")
[Cambridge](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=35595&dict=CALD) has them as two equal alternatives. And the ubiquitous [Etymonline](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=hanged&searchmode=none) quote: > [@](#): > > Hung emerged as pp. 16c. in northern England dial., and hanged endured only in legal language (which tends to be conservative) and metaphors extended from it (I’ll be hanged). So ‘hung’ isn’t incorrect, unless you chose to rely on one dictionary which suits your point of view. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219/11 "2006-11-13T12:46:12Z")
I’ll let this hung in GQ for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219/12 "2006-11-13T14:02:23Z")
On an old, live radio broadcast of Gumsmoke, an actor playing a hangman said “When I get through with a man, he is well hung.” I don’t know how the cast carried on after that. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219/13 "2006-11-13T15:24:57Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] On an old, live radio broadcast of Gumsmoke, an actor playing a hangman said “When I get through with a man, he is well hung.” I don’t know how the cast carried on after that. [/QUOTE] Seeing as how it was **Gum** smoke I guess they chewed it over and just carried on ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219/14 "2006-11-13T15:32:52Z")
**Blazing Saddles:** [Bart returns unexpectedly after being sentenced to death by hanging] \ ***Charlie:** They said you was hung. **Bart:** And they was right. \* ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219/15 "2006-11-13T16:30:33Z")
[QUOTE=Rigamarole] Of course he is. How do you think he got to be such a big dicktator? [/QUOTE] You deserve decollation, jugulation, or perhaps defenestration for that. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219/16 "2006-11-13T17:00:44Z")
So is anything besides a person ever hanged? If pictures, meat, etc. all are hung and people are hanged, then it seems like not so much a grammar issue as a colloquialism issue. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219/17 "2006-11-13T17:01:42Z")
From **Monty** ’s link: "The historically older form hanged is now used exclusively in the sense of **causing or putting to death** : He was sentenced to be hanged by the neck until dead. In the sense of legal execution, hung is also quite common and is standard in all types of speech and writing except in legal documents. When legal execution is not meant, hung has become the more frequent form: The prisoner hung himself in his cell. " But it is execution only by hanging **by the neck** , right? For example, Christ was hung from the cross, not hanged? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219/18 "2006-11-13T18:11:05Z")
Interesting, I never thought about contexts like “being hung in effigy”, but it does sound right tha way. OTOH for a real, official hanging, only _hanged_ sounds right. Given the fact that, IIRC, execution by hanging is practiced nowhere in the Anglosphere, that usage will fossilize and remain in place. ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219/19 "2006-11-14T00:03:51Z")
They say dear Francis Hinsley, they say that you were hung. With red protruding eyeballs and black protruding tongue. ([The Loved One 1965](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059410/maindetails)) ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2006, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219/20 "2006-11-14T07:56:18Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] From **Monty** ’s link: "The historically older form hanged is now used exclusively in the sense of **causing or putting to death** : He was sentenced to be hanged by the neck until dead. In the sense of legal execution, hung is also quite common and is standard in all types of speech and writing except in legal documents. When legal execution is not meant, hung has become the more frequent form: The prisoner hung himself in his cell. " But it is execution only by hanging **by the neck** , right? For example, Christ was hung from the cross, not hanged? [/QUOTE] Christ was **nailed** to the cross [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hanged-vs-hung/380219.md?page=2)