# it's hanged, goddamn it **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 25, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781 "2008-07-25T21:22:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/41 "2008-07-25T23:55:42Z")
“jogging” doesn’t begin and end with the same sound, but I fear my playfulness is being misinterpreted… I am claiming that, were I to posit such a rule, it would have just as much validity as “You cannot use ‘nauseous’ to mean ‘nauseated’, even though English speakers overwhelmingly do”. Which is to say, none; the problem with both “rules” is exactly the same: they don’t correspond to the actual facts of how people speak. I was trying to show off the silliness of clinging to such nonsense in the face of this kind of counter-evidence. I’m saddened that it apparently didn’t work. ETA: Yeah, you caught the “jogging” thing. We must be talking past each other or something, though, because I saw myself as basically on your side. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/42 "2008-07-25T23:56:37Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] I’m hopefully illustrating the silliness of rules that don’t correspond to any facts about actual speech. [/QUOTE] Then it ain’t gonna matter if you iz hung, hanged, or hawt. Irregardless of that, you can dee-liver yr speach from the lectern or the podium without fear. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/43 "2008-07-25T23:57:41Z")
[QUOTE=Algher] My wife told me, I looked it up, and it is the FIRST MOTHERFUCKING DEFINITION. [/QUOTE] Oh, right, only the first definition in dictionaries are right; the other definitions are included as irrelevent and incorrect commentary. :rolleyes: [QUOTE=Algher] You should read something more than pop up books. [/QUOTE] Only I know how truly stupid this makes you sound. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/44 "2008-07-25T23:58:20Z")
One fact about actual speech is that, as far as I’m aware, English speakers never use “hawt” as the past tense of “hang”. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/45 "2008-07-25T23:58:56Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] “jogging” doesn’t begin and end with the same sound, but I fear my playfulness is being misinterpreted… I am claiming that, were I to posit such a rule, it would have just as much validity as “You cannot use ‘nauseous’ to mean ‘nauseated’, even though English speakers overwhelmingly do”. Which is to say, none; the problem with both “rules” is exactly the same: they don’t correspond to the actual facts of how people speak. I was trying to show off the silliness of clinging to such nonsense in the face of this kind of counter-evidence. I’m saddened that it apparently didn’t work. ETA: Yeah, you caught the “jogging” thing. We must be talking past each other or something, though, because I saw myself as basically on your side. [/QUOTE] Oh, we are - I just wooshed that your example was hypothetical and was then floored by the magnanimous stupidity of the rule you presented. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/46 "2008-07-26T00:03:16Z")
Ah. Gotcha. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/47 "2008-07-26T00:03:16Z")
I usually take the side of the purists in these things, but this one strikes me as especially quixotic and a little pretentious, like still insisting that “kids” refer to goats and human young should only be called “children.” The meanings of words are in how they are used. There is no celestial source for meanings. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/48 "2008-07-26T00:05:06Z")
[QUOTE=begbert2] Oh, right, only the first definition in dictionaries are right; the other definitions are included as irrelevent and incorrect commentary. :rolleyes: Only I know how truly stupid this makes you sound. [/QUOTE] Claiming that you have NEVER heard nor read nauseous to mean feeling nauseated causes me to question your subtle claim of great literacy. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/49 "2008-07-26T00:05:57Z")
**begbert2** never made any such claim. I don’t even see why you think he did. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/50 "2008-07-26T00:07:16Z")
[QUOTE=cricetus] I usually take the side of the purists in these things, but this one strikes me as especially quixotic and a little pretentious, like still insisting that “kids” refer to goats and human young should only be called “children.” The meanings of words are in how they are used. There is no celestial source for meanings. [/QUOTE] True - it is just the pit. If this were GD I would be much more forgiving. Hell, little terms like this is more of a simple poll than anything else. (Do not judge me on this - I was simply trying to burn off some energy on the pit. Then someone appeared to take a swipe at my wife and the internet gloves had to come off) ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/51 "2008-07-26T00:08:58Z")
No one took a swipe at your wife either, though we are pointing out the silliness of a position you attribute to her. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/52 "2008-07-26T00:08:59Z")
Prescriptivists vs Descriptivists - Round 10348 … FIGHT! ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/53 "2008-07-26T00:10:05Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] **begbert2** never made any such claim. I don’t even see why you think he did. [/QUOTE] **begbert2** > [@](#): > > So sweet it makes me naseated, by which I mean nauseous, which doesn’t mean nauseating in any instance I have ever heard or read in my entire life. And I’ve read a fair bit. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/54 "2008-07-26T00:10:08Z")
[QUOTE=Algher] Claiming that you have NEVER heard nor read nauseous to mean feeling nauseated causes me to question your subtle claim of great literacy. [/QUOTE] Perhaps my problem is that I only read books written in the last fifty years or so; ergo, very little archaic and obsolete terminology works its way into my vocabulary. (And I _did_ claim to have read “a fair bit” - and I did take a swipe at **Algher** ’s credulity towards his wife’s claims (not at his wife herself). For the record.) ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/55 "2008-07-26T00:11:51Z")
**Algher** , in post #48, you accused **begbert2** of claiming to have never heard “nauseous” to mean “nauseated”. Which he never did. What you’ve shown is that he claimed to have never heard “nauseous” to mean “nauseating”. Presumably, you slipped up in post #48, causing this confusion. (To **begbert2** : Yeah, the credulity was swiped at. But, as you say, that’s no swipe at his wife. I see that I myself have now caused some more confusion by appearing to deny that you claimed great literacy, when the claim I was actually denying you made was of never having heard… ah, what a morass. Well, things are probably settling down now, anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/56 "2008-07-26T00:11:58Z")
[QUOTE=begbert2] Perhaps my problem is that I only read books written in the last fifty years or so; ergo, very little archaic and obsolete terminology works its way into my vocabulary. (And I _did_ claim to have read “a fair bit” - and I did take a swipe at **Algher** ’s credulity towards his wife’s claims (not at his wife herself). For the record.) [/QUOTE] 😉 And it isn’t archaic or obsolete - after all it is in every single definition source people have linked to so far! Cheers all - off to drinks. Enjoy your weekend. Fuck. The Pit. Enjoy your fucking weekend! ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/57 "2008-07-26T00:14:01Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] **Algher** , in post #48, you accused **begbert2** of claiming to have never heard “nauseous” to mean “nauseated”. Which he never did. What you’ve shown is that he claimed to have never heard “nauseous” to mean “nauseating”. Presumably, you slipped up in post #48, causing this confusion. (Yeah, the credulity was swiped at. But, as you say, that’s no swipe at his wife. I see that I myself have now caused some confusion by appearing to deny that you claimed great literacy, when the claim I was actually denying you made was… ah, what a morass. Well, things are probably settling down now, anyway.) [/QUOTE] Don’t you dare use my exact words in a fight over definitions! Harumph. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/58 "2008-07-26T00:16:08Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] **Algher** , in post #48, you accused **begbert2** of claiming to have never heard “nauseous” to mean “nauseated”. [/QUOTE] By god he _did_ claim that; I didn’t even notice! I am gravely insulted!!! [Flails wildly about with fists.] Heh. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/59 "2008-07-26T00:18:09Z")
Alright, everybody just… stay still and… _don’t claim anything_. We might make it out of this yet. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/60 "2008-07-26T00:20:12Z")
The thing that bothers me most about people who use “hung” for “executed” is not that it’s wrong – although it is wrong – but that everyone in America has been told this usage multiple times. It’s ALWAYS taught in schools. AND it’s easy to remember. You’d have to be stupid – bone-stupid – lazy, or just plain disrespectful, disrepectful of your listeners and your mother tongue, to get this wrong after maybe the age of ten. So when people DO misuse “hung”, it bothers me. Sailboat [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781.md?page=4)