# Grammar Question - Hung/hanged **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 10, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903 "2008-03-10T23:28:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903/1 "2008-03-10T23:28:00Z")
If a person, whom is already dead, is strung up by the neck, is it proper to say he was “hung” or “hanged?” ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903/2 "2008-03-10T23:29:16Z")
I would think “hung”, since “hanged” refers to execution, but don’t quote me on it. I’m quite certain, however, that it is “who is already dead”, not “whom”. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903/3 "2008-03-10T23:38:37Z")
[QUOTE=fachverwirrt] I’m quite certain, however, that it is “who is already dead”, not “whom”. [/QUOTE] I am also quite certain you are correct. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903/4 "2008-03-10T23:48:23Z")
IIRC, “hanged” is correct in news stories, since it’s impossible to determine if the other is true. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903/5 "2008-03-10T23:57:24Z")
I’m pretty sure that both are correct in simply grammatical terms. It’s a question of usage, and as indicated, ‘hanged’ suggests the (legitimate?) act of killing, while any other description should probably use other language to avoid any confusion. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903/6 "2008-03-10T23:59:21Z")
“They said you was hung.” “They was right.” ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903/7 "2008-03-11T00:00:27Z")
I went ahead and fixed the spelling in the thread title. **Gfactor** General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903/8 "2008-03-11T00:11:39Z")
As others have said, “hanged” usually refers to the act of execution. If a dead body was hung up by its neck, I would say it was hung, or hung up. Although I think you’d have to make it clear that the person didn’t die from the hanging to avoid being accused of using the incorrect form. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903/9 "2008-03-11T00:14:12Z")
Yup. If your death is caused by the intentional placement of a noose around your neck and subsequent suspension from the attached rope, one has been hanged. If a corpse is attached to something by means of a rope or other material suitable for the purpose, it is hung. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903/10 "2008-03-11T00:25:51Z")
People are hanged; objects are hung. Few men would like to be hanged, but most say they would like to be hung 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903/11 "2008-03-11T01:23:54Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] People are hanged; objects are hung. [/QUOTE] Live people can be hanged. Objects or dead people can be hung. “After the angry mob hanged the horse thief, they took his body and hung him from the flagpole.” Or a live person can be hung, if not for the purpose of killing him: “The stunt man was hung by his ankles from the helicopter.” ---
**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:** [March 11, 2008, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903/12 "2008-03-11T02:56:31Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] People are hanged; objects are hung. ) [/QUOTE] In German the distinction sometimes seems to hinge (hah!) on whether the verb is transitive or intransitive, although the verb does change slightly going from one sense to the other, unlike English. “Hangen” (to hang, intransitive), has an irregular past tense and past participle, as does the English word “hang”. “Verhangen”, (to hang (something or someone)) is regular. I don’t know if this is in any way related to the “hanged”,“hung” dichotomy in English. At one time, was “hanged” the correct past tense for all transitive uses, as in “They hanged a sign in front of the tavern?” Was this a pattern in proto-Germanic or PIE? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903/13 "2008-03-11T04:53:07Z")
[QUOTE=Chefguy] “They said you was hung.” “They was right.” [/QUOTE] I only came in to see how many posts it took before this was quoted. I’m pleased with six, but three or four would have been better. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903/14 "2008-03-11T05:12:16Z")
There is another exception, with the figurative expression: _ **to hang someone out to dry** _. In that case, you can say, “He was hung out to dry,” and it doesn’t mean he was literally killed. It means roughly, “to abandon support for another person.” But the origin of the expression comes from hanging a dead animal out to dry after it’s been killed. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903/15 "2008-03-11T05:53:48Z")
[QUOTE=guizot] There is another exception, with the figurative expression: _ **to hang someone out to dry** _. In that case, you can say, “He was hung out to dry,” and it doesn’t mean he was literally killed. It means roughly, “to abandon support for another person.” But the origin of the expression comes from hanging a dead animal out to dry after it’s been killed. [/QUOTE] Cite? The expression isn’t in OED (at least not in the slang sense) but I think it far more likely that the origin is from laundry, cf the expression _put through the wringer_, a phrase with a similar slang meaning also originating in the laundering of clothes. Earliest cite from the Dictionary of American Slang: 1971: Turque /Viet Vet/ (WNBC-TV)\> "The South Vietnamese fell back and just left us… out to dry, as they say. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903/16 "2008-03-11T07:52:39Z")
Per Oxford, _hanged_ is used only for the definition of, “kill[ing] (someone) by tying a rope attached from above around the neck and removing the support from beneath,” otherwise, you use _hung_. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903/17 "2008-03-11T22:51:12Z")
Definitely “hanged” for the intentional infliction of death by the noose. Interesting treatise at [Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos](http://www.geocities.com/trctl11/hanging.html) As for “hung”, gallows execution observers can often determine if the hanged guy was also hung because of the priapism phenomenon as described in Wiki [http://en.wikipedia/wiki/Death\_erection](http://en.wikipedia/wiki/Death_erection) ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903/18 "2008-03-12T02:59:18Z")
[QUOTE=aldiboronti] Cite? The expression isn’t in OED (at least not in the slang sense) but I think it far more likely that the origin is from laundry, cf the expression _put through the wringer_, a phrase with a similar slang meaning also originating in the laundering of clothes. [/QUOTE] I can’t check my OED because I’m still in the office. Why don’t you “CITE!!!” the OED, and let us see what the hell it says? [The Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms](http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/hang+out+to+dry) says differently. But that doesn’t mean I completely accept it. Language origins are never absolute, and talking about language shouldn’t be about oneupmanship. It should be about taking an interest in the language. > [@](#): > > 1971: Turque /Viet Vet/ (WNBC-TV)\> "The South Vietnamese fell back and just left us… out to dry, as they say. How does that tell us anything of the origin of the expression. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903/19 "2008-03-12T04:51:07Z")
The verb _hang_ can be used transitively (I hang the picture) or intransitively (The picture hangs). _Hung_ is both the simple past tense (I hung the picture yesterday/The picture hung askew yesterday) and the past participle (The picture was hung by me yesterday/The picture has hung there since yesterday). The one grand exception to both the past tense and past participle is when a person is the object of the transitive verb or the subject of the intransitive verb; in both cases _hanged_ is used for the simple past and past participle. Why did this happen? There were [two different verbs](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=hang) in Old English for the transitive and intransitive forms, much like the difference between “lay” and “lie” or “rise” and “raise”. But unlike these examples, the two “hangs” were eventually confused in the common language, and the transitive “hang/hung” used for both. The originally-intransitive form _hanged_ survived (no, I won’t say “hung around”) because it was used in legalese and related metaphors, both of which tend to fossilize langauge. Since the word most commonly came up in legal proceedings in reference to capital punishment, it became associated only with “hanging people”. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2008, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903/20 "2008-03-12T06:50:18Z")
[QUOTE=guizot] I can’t check my OED because I’m still in the office. Why don’t you “CITE!!!” the OED, and let us see what the hell it says? [The Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms](http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/hang+out+to+dry) says differently. But that doesn’t mean I completely accept it. Language origins are never absolute, and talking about language shouldn’t be about oneupmanship. It should be about taking an interest in the language. How does that tell us anything of the origin of the expression. [/QUOTE] Why are you getting so hot under the collar? You made the assertion. I simply asked on what authority you made it. It is usual in this forum to ask for a cite. As for asking for a cite from the OED, read my post again. The slang sense is not in the OED. My thoughts on the origin were clearly speculative. Yours was a categoric assertion and as such needed a cite to back it up. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-hung-hanged/440903.md?page=2)