Comments on: hanged vs. hung

By: Avi

Avi — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 05:39:54 +0000

which one's correct? "i will be hanged" or " i will be hung"

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By: Name (supplied)

Name (supplied) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:02:42 +0000

Personally, I think he should be hung.

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By: katie

katie — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:53:16 +0000

I order that the previous commentator be hanged for being crass. Dick.Napoleon complex, anyone?

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By: jjm

jjm — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:41:53 +0000

I'm hanged like a horse

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By: caes

caes — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:03:40 +0000

hanged is used when talking about people being hanged (killed by hanging). in other cases, you use hung.

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By: Katie

Katie — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:30:37 +0000

I've always understood the difference between hanged & hung when it comes to people vs. inanimate objects, but what is the rule when talking about an animal that died by hanging? I always thought the rule was "hanged" for people, and "hung" for animals, but I feel like I may have been in error all these years. Anyone have an answer? Thanks! Rara

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By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:25:15 +0000

I tend to agree with John's "lay" vs "lie" analogy (transitive vs intransitive - "hanged" being the past participle when something/someone is "hanged" and "hung" referring to the past tense state of something/someone, um, dangling, if you will). In German, for example, "haengen"- to hang something (on a wall, etc.) has the regular/weak past participle "gehaengt" (akin to "hanged"). "Haengen", however, describing the state of dangling or at least being pinned to a verticle surface, features the irregular/strong past participle "gehangen"- "hung". If this pattern were followed in common usage, we would say such statements in English as "I hanged a poster up yesterday" & "The poster hung there for a day until it fell down." But alas, in a language culture where laziness prevails, in which people "lay out in the sun" and someone has "set in a chair for three hours" and a person is asked to "leave the book lay there on the table", such a distinction hardly seems reasonable/realistic.

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By: Gary

Gary — Sun, 31 May 2009 20:27:40 +0000

Hanged may be correct but it sounds like an 1850's prospector, Dag nab it.

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By: Liz

Liz — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 23:03:59 +0000

My 6th grade English teacher told us one day, "MEAT is hung. PEOPLE are hanged." I got an immediate and lasting visual on that, and have never forgotten the rule. Thank you Mrs. Anderson!

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By: bakullas

bakullas — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 03:37:53 +0000

thanks for the wonderful discussion, i love it and it helped me to prove myself that i have gone to my primary school and paying attention while teacher was teaching me ...

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