# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/101 "2008-07-31T13:20:42Z")
[QUOTE=calm kiwi] Asked? In what way does “I can’t be asked” even vaguely make sense. “I cant be arsed” may not be polite English but it means “I can’t be bothered”. What on Earth does “I can’t be asked” mean…even in polite terms? [/QUOTE] Actually “arsed” isn’t even a word. “Arse” is a polite slang for “ass” so what would “assed” mean? “I can’t be asked” is much closer to the meaning “I can’t be bothered”. Used all the time around here. Normally in a situation where someone considers themselves so above a task that no one can tell them to do it much less even ask them to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Zulema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/db5fbb/32.png) [@Zulema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zulema)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/102 "2008-07-31T13:33:03Z")
[QUOTE=Charlie Tan] I used \*gonna \* in one thread a while ago and \*kinda \* this week. Where should I pay the fines to the language police? Do they take plastic? [/QUOTE] Good on you for confessing your evil ways. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/103 "2008-07-31T17:23:09Z")
[QUOTE=Hampshire] Actually “arsed” isn’t even a word. “Arse” is a polite slang for “ass” so what would “assed” mean? [/QUOTE] Um… _what_? “Ass” is a corruption (or Americanization, if you prefer) of “arse”, dear. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/104 "2008-07-31T17:34:42Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Um… _what_? “Ass” is a corruption (or Americanization, if you prefer) of “arse”, dear. [/QUOTE] Quite right. In case there are any doubts, here is a [cite](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ass) (one of many easily found). ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/105 "2008-07-31T17:45:28Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Um… _what_? “Ass” is a corruption (or Americanization, if you prefer) of “arse”, dear. [/QUOTE] Either was ass-arse or arse-ass they both are meant to be a name for your back-side. My point still stands, what does “arsed” mean and is there even such a word? And even if “arse” did come first it doesn’t negate the fact that people still use it as a polite form of “ass”. ---
**Author:** ![Aholibah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Aholibah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aholibah)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/106 "2008-07-31T18:00:01Z")
[QUOTE=Hampshire] It’s “asked” not “ARSED”!!! Fuckity, fuckity, fuckity, fuck. Fucking morons. [/QUOTE] Wow, there are few things more entertaining than watching someone be adamantly, vehemently, outrageously wrong while in the midst of correcting somebody else. Unless maybe it’s watching that happen on a board dedicated to fighting ignorance. > [@](#): > > In BrE, arse can also a verb. Can’t be arsed to means ‘can’t be bothered to’. I see that another blogger (Troubled Diva) is promoting an acronym to be used when you want to admit you’re too lazy to back up the claims you’re making on your blog: CBATG, or ‘Can’t Be Arsed To Google’. Another verbal use of arse, to arse about is vaguely equivalent to AmE goof off. The OED includes some examples of ass being used as a verb in ass about, but this just isn’t a common usage in the US. I actually could be arsed to Google that, but the results were contaminated with lots of examples of give a rat’s ass about, and I couldn’t be arsed to sort those out. [Separated By a Common Language](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/08/arse-ass-and-other-bottoms.html), a blog by an American linguist living in England. You can scroll up from the selection I’ve quoted above to find more support for **RNATB** ’s and **Indistinguishable** ’s correction to you that ‘ass’ is, in fact, the corruption of the original ‘arse.’ Just because you don’t happen to know the idiom doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I’ve never heard anybody use the phrase “can’t be asked to” do something, meaning they’re too lazy to bother with it, but I trust you that around your parts it is an idiomatic phrase meaning just what you say it does. Try being arsed to Google something yourself before you stride into a thread to call another poster a fucking moron. ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/107 "2008-07-31T18:11:14Z")
[QUOTE=Hampshire] It’s “asked” not “ARSED”!!! Fuckity, fuckity, fuckity, fuck. Fucking morons. [/QUOTE] Not very bright are we? “Arsed” is the word from which we Americans got the word “ass,” which can (in British English, which I also heard growing up due to my relatives being from the Isles) be used as a verb meaning “bothered.” When a person says that they “cannot be arsed” to do something, it means “I cannot be bothered to do that.” Thank you for making me giggle, though. Where in the living fuck you would think that “asked” makes _any sense, whatsoever_ in my statement is beyond me. ETA, I know this was covered by other posters, but ya know, I always like to point out the blindingly obvious when I can. Oh, and I also love how my threads always seem to take on a life of their own. I will say that nauseous/nauseated never bothered me, but people who say “noxious” when they obviously mean “nauseous” are another pitting entirely. I promise not to get started on my soapbox about loose vs lose – because that one actually makes me want to get violent 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/108 "2008-07-31T18:38:03Z")
[QUOTE=Litoris] Not very bright are we? “Arsed” is the word from which we Americans got the word “ass,” which can (in British English, which I also heard growing up due to my relatives being from the Isles) be used as a verb meaning “bothered.” When a person says that they “cannot be arsed” to do something, it means “I cannot be bothered to do that.” Thank you for making me giggle, though. Where in the living fuck you would think that “asked” makes _any sense, whatsoever_ in my statement is beyond me. ETA, I know this was covered by other posters, but ya know, I always like to point out the blindingly obvious when I can. Oh, and I also love how my threads always seem to take on a life of their own. I will say that nauseous/nauseated never bothered me, but people who say “noxious” when they obviously mean “nauseous” are another pitting entirely. I promise not to get started on my soapbox about loose vs lose – because that one actually makes me want to get violent 😃 [/QUOTE] All right, you win (white flag), point taken, ignorance fought, yada-yada. I was just trying to poke fun at your outrage over the hanged-hung deal. How about this: It’s “Clitoris” not “Litoris”. (fuck!) ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/109 "2008-07-31T19:06:28Z")
[QUOTE=Hampshire] All right, you win (white flag), point taken, ignorance fought, yada-yada. I was just trying to poke fun at your outrage over the hanged-hung deal. How about this: It’s “Clitoris” not “Litoris”. (fuck!) [/QUOTE] Things might not always be what you think they are: [Litoris](http://www.vortigernstudies.org.uk/artsou/notitialist.htm) [Litoris](http://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_Litoris_Pacifici) [Litoris](http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/M/Mythicomyia_litoris/default.asp) [Litoris](http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/classification/Anticoma_litoris.html) just sayin’ ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/110 "2008-08-01T00:43:21Z")
[QUOTE=begbert2] Despite the compelling repetition of the word “fuck”, I’m not convinced. _Why_ are people not hung? If I hang you by your back collar from a coat hook, are you hung then? [/QUOTE] [Joe Piscopo in “Johnny Dangerously”]You shouldn’t hang me from a hook, Johnny. My mother hung me from a hook once. ONCE! [/Joe Piscopo] ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/111 "2008-08-01T00:52:46Z")
[QUOTE=Litoris] Things might not always be what you think they are: [Litoris](http://www.vortigernstudies.org.uk/artsou/notitialist.htm) [Litoris](http://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Via_Litoris_Pacifici) [Litoris](http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/M/Mythicomyia_litoris/default.asp) [Litoris](http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/classification/Anticoma_litoris.html) just sayin’ [/QUOTE] I was really hoping one of your examples would be a link to your SDMB user profile 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ossity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b3f665/32.png) [@ossity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ossity)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/112 "2008-08-01T01:12:51Z")
[QUOTE=Litoris] People are hanged, clothes are hung. [/QUOTE] Commas are, apparently, spliced. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/113 "2008-08-01T01:23:35Z")
[QUOTE=ossity] Commas are, apparently, spliced. [/QUOTE] Fowler considers the juncture of juxtaposed related extremely short (2-3 word) main clauses by commas to be acceptable style. Roses are red, violets are blue. Splices are wrong, but so are you. ---
**Author:** ![eulalia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eulalia/32/457_2.png) [@eulalia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eulalia)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/114 "2008-08-01T06:32:19Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say “sneaked”. I’ve heard “snuck” all my life. Where do people say “sneaked”? ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/115 "2008-08-01T07:37:43Z")
From the newspapers, today: “Six relatives of Mexico’s Agriculture Minister Alberto Cardenas, including two girls aged seven and eight, were found executed in his home” No. They. Weren’t. The word you need is _murdered_. Please do not bastardise the word “execute” any time somebody’s murder happens to involve a single bullet wound to the head. Thankyou. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/116 "2008-08-01T08:39:19Z")
“Execute” means “murder in a planned fashion” ([cite](http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=execute&sub=Search+WordNet&o2=&o0=1&o7=&o5=&o1=1&o6=&o4=&o3=&h=)), so yes, they were. ---
**Author:** ![phil417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@phil417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phil417)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/117 "2008-08-01T08:48:33Z")
Note to everyone: the word is **noted** – as I noted to you, you noted to him, he sent the note…NOT…_NOTATED_, you idiot. “Notated” is not a noun, a verb, an adjective, nor an adverb. There is no such word, and no wishing in the world will make it so. Phil ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/118 "2008-08-01T09:12:05Z")
[QUOTE=eulalia] I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say “sneaked”. I’ve heard “snuck” all my life. Where do people say “sneaked”? [/QUOTE] Over here ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/119 "2008-08-01T10:20:31Z")
[QUOTE=Capt. Ridley’s Shooting Party] “Execute” means “murder in a planned fashion” ([cite](http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=execute&sub=Search+WordNet&o2=&o0=1&o7=&o5=&o1=1&o6=&o4=&o3=&h=)), so yes, they were. [/QUOTE] Only because the word’s been bastardised for a couple of decades now (yes, I _am_ feeling a little prescriptivist tonight, why do you ask?). It started off with reports about “the execution-style merder of blah blah blah” and then we all just got lazy. Seriously - what word are we now going to use to unambiguously mean “killed by the government by judicial procedure as a punishment for some crime”? What do we gain by letting execute slide into “murdered in a particular way”? ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781/120 "2008-08-01T10:34:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Seriously - what word are we now going to use to unambiguously mean “killed by the government by judicial procedure as a punishment for some crime”? Why do we need a _specific_ word to refer to that? As to resolving the ambiguity, we’d do it in much the same way that any other English sentence (which almost universally have multiple parse trees) are resolved—using common sense. > [@](#): > > What do we gain by letting execute slide into “murdered in a particular way”? We get a single word describing a certain style of murder: “Execute” versus “murdered in a particular way”. Works for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hanged-goddamn-it/457781.md?page=7)