# Sneaked or Snuck? Which is correct? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 12, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneaked-or-snuck-which-is-correct/452716 "2008-06-12T18:13:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneaked-or-snuck-which-is-correct/452716/21 "2008-06-13T17:35:20Z")
[QUOTE=Rysto] I believe that in this case, sneaked is the older form. [/QUOTE] Same with “pleaded,” I think. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2008, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneaked-or-snuck-which-is-correct/452716/22 "2008-06-13T20:41:34Z")
Really? Because I’d had the impression that “pleaded” was taking over from “pled,” especially in the media. Are we returning to old ways or bringing in something new? Either way, I prefer “pled”. Guess I’ve just got a thang for those strong, manly verbs. ---
**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:** [June 13, 2008, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneaked-or-snuck-which-is-correct/452716/23 "2008-06-13T21:27:20Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] Not only that, it’s used commonly enough in more formal forms of English, like the press. Doing a quick search through the AP archives on [ap.org](http://ap.org), “snuck” appears 513 times, and “sneaked” appears 1460 times. So “snuck” is certainly less preferred, but it’s hardly rare, making up over a quarter of the instances of the past tense of “to sneak.” [/QUOTE] But to be fair, you’d have to go through those uses of “snuck” and see how many times its use was tongue in cheek, was in a quotation or a letter to the editor, or was otherwise not the intentional choice of an AP staff writer. I would hazard a guess that “serious” uses by professional writers (at AP and elsewhere) are much, much rarer than that 513/1460 ratio would suggest. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneaked-or-snuck-which-is-correct/452716/24 "2008-06-14T02:42:24Z")
Don’t forget the wonderful “shat”. ---
**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:** [June 14, 2008, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneaked-or-snuck-which-is-correct/452716/25 "2008-06-14T05:59:30Z")
I’ve always read that “sneaked” is correct and “snuck” isn’t, (in fact, my spell checker is redlining it even as I type). But “snuck” has always sounded more natural to me. I don’t know why that is. “Dove” in place of “dived”, on the other hand, does make sense by analogy with the past tense form “drove”. American English does seem to prefer a few past tense forms now considered obsolete in the UK, like ‘spit’ instead of ‘spat’, ‘shit’ instead of ‘shat’, and so on. OTOH, I think UK English favors “shone” (intransitive) while Americans say “shined”. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneaked-or-snuck-which-is-correct/452716/26 "2008-06-14T14:48:26Z")
I have a hard time with this. Snuck sounds more natural to my ear, in the same way that “hung” sounds more natural than “hanged”, even though I know “hanged” is proper–I have to make a conscious effort over it. [QUOTE=Mk VII] We don’t have ‘veterans’ (unless they’re cars) we have ex-servicemen. [/QUOTE] I bet the ones with ovaries would be bummed to hear that. ---
**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:** [June 14, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneaked-or-snuck-which-is-correct/452716/27 "2008-06-14T14:54:37Z")
[QUOTE=NajaNivea] I have a hard time with this. Snuck sounds more natural to my ear, in the same way that “hung” sounds more natural than “hanged”, even though I know “hanged” is proper–I have to make a conscious effort over it. [/QUOTE] You know it’s only “hanged” when it refers to the execution of a human being. Everything else is hung. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneaked-or-snuck-which-is-correct/452716/28 "2008-06-14T14:59:45Z")
[QUOTE=commasense] You know it’s only “hanged” when it refers to the execution of a human being. Everything else is hung. [/QUOTE] Well, yes, I know–which is largely why I have to make a conscious effort to remember that the low-down hornswoggler and generally dirty varmint got _hanged_, and not hung, like the side of beef did. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sneaked-or-snuck-which-is-correct/452716.md?page=1)