Hang em out to dry

[josh2222]

What does that phrase mean?

[MAM-JET]

Well, you know that when you are born you are whats called naked. Then you have things put on you - these are called clothes. Now, after you have had the `clothes` on for a while, they get soiled i.e. dirty, and smelly (especially if you live in Yorkshire and smoke, take your whippet to bed with you after drinking 15 pints of Parsons Bum Beer after a hard day down the mine.

Now, the clothes are taken off you and put in stuff called `Water` which makes them wet. So, they are then hung on a line in the garden till they are dry.

SO - They are " Hung out to Dry" is that clear?

[Quizmonster]

If someone is "hung out to dry", it means thay have been abandoned to their fate by the very people they should have been counting on to support ttem. In politics, for example, a minister may make some boo-boo and - instead of speaking out strongly in support and understanding - the Prime Minister remains silent and lets the media tear the poor guy to shreds.
So, your version..."Hang 'em out to dry"... is just an instruction to do that to some people.

[Dee Sa]

leave them to their deserved fate.

[Quizmonster]

I'd actually say the punishment is only occasionally "deserved"; more often, the poor dryee is just a scapegoat, with about as much control over what has happened as a damp towel flapping on a clothes-line!
The original scapegoat in the Bible was a poor creature that was driven out into the desert after having all the community's sins - metaphorically - heaped on its back...and it was as innocent as the day is long.
But what the hey!