# In this sweet old country. . .

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-this-sweet-old-country/5624>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 28, 1999, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-this-sweet-old-country/5624 "1999-12-28T23:02:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 1999, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-this-sweet-old-country/5624/1 "1999-12-28T23:02:00Z")

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. . .Where I come from

- nobody ever works, nuthin’ ever gets done
- we hang fire
- 
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- Huh? What does “Hang Fire” mean? Is that what he says? - MC

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**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 1999, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-this-sweet-old-country/5624/2 "1999-12-28T23:05:00Z")

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hemmoroids? Oh no that’s ring of fire.

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Of course that’s just my opinion I could be wrong.  
Dennis Miller

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**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 1999, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-this-sweet-old-country/5624/3 "1999-12-28T23:17:00Z")

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Hang fire is an explosives term. If the fuse is lit, but the charge fails to explode, it is hanging fire. Dangerous situation, obviously, for the guy who has to go over and find out what the problem is.

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**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 1999, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-this-sweet-old-country/5624/4 "1999-12-28T23:29:00Z")

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I’ve heard hangfire in the context of firearms. When the hammer falls on a live cartridge, the cartridge might not go off. It might either have failed to ignite entirely, or it may be taking time to ignite. The latter case is a hangfire. It’s not particularly common with modern propellants, but it can be dangerous, if you decide your cartridge is not going to go off and start cleaning the gun, and it goes off. So, you’re supposed to wait a couple of seconds (I’ve heard a recommendation of thirty, but I think that’s way on the safe side … not that you shouldn’t be on the safe side) before you open the action and pick out the misfired round.

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**Author:** ![Sycorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 1999, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-this-sweet-old-country/5624/5 "1999-12-29T02:33:00Z")

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I’ve heard this expression and used it myself many times to mean: is something not done that could become a problem, usually at work: “anything hanging fire?” Never thought about its origins, but the fuse/explosive thing makes sense.