I am SO sick of hearing and reading, “They hung the thief in the village square.”. or, “He hung himself, even left a suicide note.”
According to “The New Lexicon: Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language (Deluxe Edition)”, it states: hanged: “to suffer death by being suspended by the neck.”
I hear it on the radio, I hear it on the telly, I read it in the paper. What is up with these people, some of whom are journalists and I ASSUME took courses in writing.
You say, “She came in and hung her jacket in the closet.”, or, “Yesterday I hung up the new curtains.”
You say, “He was sentenced to be hanged next week.”
Get it right people!!
AND ANOTHER THING! When a person drowns, they are dead! it’s not “drowned to death”. It’s drowned, period, end of story.
Thank you for listening.
In that case, I’d just like to say that I’m hanged like a mastadon.
Well, I’ll be hanged…
I checked my handy Websters to be sure before posting, but I have to quibble with both you and it on a rather fine point. Drowning victims do not always die - they can sometimes be rescusitated sometimes in an ambulatory or (more likely) hospital environment. I think medically that if someone is submerged in water and becomes unconcious as a result thereof, they are considered drowned; however, they aren’t necessarily dead, just close.
I agree with the premise that “drowned to death” needs to be relegated to the bin, but only because any other outcome from drowning is rare enough to warrant special mention, not because death is the inevitable outcome of a drowning episode. Of course, I could just be full of shit. It’s happened before.
You will hang for this!
We have hung other for this;
Indeed, you will hang as others have been higgen!
I have spoken.
I had a teacher correct me for saying hanged. She was just so sure that it was hung I eventually gave up trying to convince her otherwise. FWIW, this same teacher took off marks on a vocab test because I wrote the pronunciation of the word ‘gesture’ with a J sound instead of a G. :rolleyes: I had to bring a dictionary from home for that one.
Thank you for bringing this up—it is one of my pet peeves. I correct it whenever I can, but had to hold back recently when a friend was telling me about a 13-year-old student in her kid’s class who “hung” himself. Her error was almost as bothersome as the story was sad, but I managed to be appropriately quiet on the subject of the grammar error.
Come on, spit it out ! What you’re saying is there’s a hung jury on this.
BTW, where do we stand on a ‘hang dog’ countenance ? - cocked over a lamp post, I’d hazard.
“You watch your mouth, boy. How would you like to be hung?”
“Give me a choice! Please, who wouldn’t?”
I’m having a hard time following this discussion because I am so hangedover I can barely see straight.
Besides, everyone knows it’s "drowneded, right?
[Mel Brooks]
"Tell me, what will happen if they catch those two slaves?’
“Well, if they’re caught, they’re hung”
“Not necessarily!”
[/Mel Brooks]
[sub] Damn, I miss Madeline Kahn.[/sub]
Moggy – The advice came just too late, I posted a ‘hung’, two minutes before reading this thread. Needless to say, I followed up with a correction and apology. Needless also to say I will not post a link to my faux pas. My head is hanged low and any dreams of a journalistic career, have been immediately forgotten. Thank you for my continuing education.
Personally, I think it’s better to get rid of confusions like this, where no significant difference in meaning is involved.
So hanging a picture on the wall means it’s now hung on the wall.
Hanging a man however means he’s now been hanged.
Or even: “Something has been hung over there - I can’t see what it is. Oh, it’s a man - so something has been hanged over there.”
No need to get hung up on this stuff. 
They both mean suspended - why not just have one usage.
Now where there is a useful difference, let’s fight to preserve it. I’m sure you can all infer what I’m implying here.
No significant difference in meaning!? Consider:
[ul]
[li]The man was hung.[/li][li]The man was hanged.[/li][/ul]
Which would you rather be? [sub]Assuming you’re a man.[/sub]
There IS a useful difference.
A picture can’t be hanged. A man CAN be hung.
When it’s a method of execution, it’s hanged. When it’s simply a method of placement it’s hung.
I’m all for education about minor grammatic points, but did this really warrant a Pit thread. This is the place for vitriol and anger and such, not English class.
OK, so I’m a bit of a grump.
Why don’t we just quit this debate and say hunged?
Okay, maybe not.
hanged, hung, hung, hanged, hanged, hung, hung, hanged, hanged, hung, hung, hanged, hanged, hung, hung, hanged, hanged, hung, hung, hanged, hanged, hung, hung, hanged, hanged, hung, hung, hanged, hanged, hung, hung, hanged, hanged, hung, hung, hanged, hanged, hung, hung, hanged, hanged, hung …
Both words have lost all meaning to me now.
You know, that’s pretty cold.