ChatterBank3 mins ago
Hung or Hanged?
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To settle a bet - is it correct to say "the murderer was hung" or "the murderer was hanged"?
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Hanged means "executed by hanging." Some authorities accept hung.
Hung means "suspended" otherwise.
Both are past tenses or past participles of the verb to hang, but each applies to specific cases.
Examples: The five plotters in the Lincoln assassination were hanged.
We hung the towels out on the clothesline to dry.
Hung means "suspended" otherwise.
Both are past tenses or past participles of the verb to hang, but each applies to specific cases.
Examples: The five plotters in the Lincoln assassination were hanged.
We hung the towels out on the clothesline to dry.
According to Fowler's �Modern English Usage' - generally regarded as the authority on the subject - you should use hanged as the past tense and past participle when referring to capital punishment and in imprecations (ie oaths); otherwise hung.
Examples:
a. They hanged the murderer at Pentonville. (Past tense)
b. He was hanged at 8 am. (Past participle)
c. I'll be hanged if I'll do any such thing! (Imprecation)
d. They hung the picture in the gallery. (Past tense)
e. The picture was hung over the fireplace. (Past participle)
Hung became the accepted form in standard English in the 1500s, with hanged more or less just used for the sense of "killed by hanging" and in imprecations, as illustrated in �c' above.
Many writers nowadays, however, use hung in descriptions of executions. This usage is not wrong but just less customary in standard English.
It's pretty clear that hanged represents something final - death - whilst hung represents something comparatively temporary. That is why the old phrase was: �Hung, drawn and quartered' and not �Hanged, drawn and quartered'...ie because the victim was still alive when he was cut down to receive the rest of the punishment. In the same way, we prefer the butcher to sell us game that's been hung - ie relatively briefly dangled - not hanged. (The fact that the game is dead is not relevant here!)
Given the information in my paragraph which opens 'Many writers...', I'm not too sure you are entitled to say that 'The murderer was hung' is incorrect rather than just less used nowadays.
Examples:
a. They hanged the murderer at Pentonville. (Past tense)
b. He was hanged at 8 am. (Past participle)
c. I'll be hanged if I'll do any such thing! (Imprecation)
d. They hung the picture in the gallery. (Past tense)
e. The picture was hung over the fireplace. (Past participle)
Hung became the accepted form in standard English in the 1500s, with hanged more or less just used for the sense of "killed by hanging" and in imprecations, as illustrated in �c' above.
Many writers nowadays, however, use hung in descriptions of executions. This usage is not wrong but just less customary in standard English.
It's pretty clear that hanged represents something final - death - whilst hung represents something comparatively temporary. That is why the old phrase was: �Hung, drawn and quartered' and not �Hanged, drawn and quartered'...ie because the victim was still alive when he was cut down to receive the rest of the punishment. In the same way, we prefer the butcher to sell us game that's been hung - ie relatively briefly dangled - not hanged. (The fact that the game is dead is not relevant here!)
Given the information in my paragraph which opens 'Many writers...', I'm not too sure you are entitled to say that 'The murderer was hung' is incorrect rather than just less used nowadays.
When I wrote it, Catron, I did so simply because that was how I myself had always 'heard' it. Your question having raised the possibility that I'd got it wrong all these long years, caused me to delve into The Oxford English Dictionary. (I'm only too well aware that one can have lifelong mistaken ideas!)
There, I find the earliest use of the phrase 'hung and drawn' - minus the 'quartered' - dates back to 1320, while the full 'hung, drawn and quartered' did not appear until about a century and a half later. I'm claiming, therefore, to have been 2/3 right!
The whole of the dictionary's entry is fascinating re the distinction between hung and hanged. One key element is the dialectal one, which reveals that 'the murderer was hung' is generally specific to speakers in the south of England. This rather supports my contention that - whilst hanged is now considered the norm - hung is not actually incorrect in terms of usage.
There, I find the earliest use of the phrase 'hung and drawn' - minus the 'quartered' - dates back to 1320, while the full 'hung, drawn and quartered' did not appear until about a century and a half later. I'm claiming, therefore, to have been 2/3 right!
The whole of the dictionary's entry is fascinating re the distinction between hung and hanged. One key element is the dialectal one, which reveals that 'the murderer was hung' is generally specific to speakers in the south of England. This rather supports my contention that - whilst hanged is now considered the norm - hung is not actually incorrect in terms of usage.
In the case of hanging game, the game is hung until the meat is tender and then drawn, that is, its intestines are removed preparatory to cooking.It's never 'hanged and drawn'. Is your OED reference of 1320 to game or to a convict, QM ? Presumably, it's to the latter.
Over the years there has been many a hung jury but never a hanged one.
'Hanged' certainly has a sense of finality which' hung' does not.
Incidentally,when 'hang' is used intransitively we don't appear to use 'hanged' at all . We don't say that we had 'hanged around' for an hour.
Over the years there has been many a hung jury but never a hanged one.
'Hanged' certainly has a sense of finality which' hung' does not.
Incidentally,when 'hang' is used intransitively we don't appear to use 'hanged' at all . We don't say that we had 'hanged around' for an hour.
Even further puzzlement for me, Fred! It turns out that the 1320 reference was not genuine, but actually from a work by Sir Walter Scott but written in 14th century style. Thus my dating is still about half a millennium out! However, it did refer to criminals, not meat.
OK...I hold my hands up...nobody in the history of humanity ever said hung, drawn and quartered but me!
As a matter of interest, Burnhal, there is a quote from a letter written in 1645 by James Howell which reads, 'They cut off his genitories and they say he was hung like an ass." So the idea predates Casanova by about a century.
OK...I hold my hands up...nobody in the history of humanity ever said hung, drawn and quartered but me!
As a matter of interest, Burnhal, there is a quote from a letter written in 1645 by James Howell which reads, 'They cut off his genitories and they say he was hung like an ass." So the idea predates Casanova by about a century.
Who is going to tell the Tower of London website then that they should not be using Hung, Drawn and Quartered
(and all the other equally "official" websites I just looked at)
http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/WhatsOn/Hu ngQuarteredDrawn.aspx
(and all the other equally "official" websites I just looked at)
http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/WhatsOn/Hu ngQuarteredDrawn.aspx
"As a prank, his friends hung little Johnnie by his fingertips from a branch of the tree they were playing on and ran off."
Johnnie's a person, Banjobabe, and his friends certainly hadn't hanged him! So not quite 'always' hanged.
As I - and the OED - said earlier, many people also use hung to mean executed, so not 'always' in terms of usage there either.
(I was just having a little joke in my opening paragraph, ma'am.)
Johnnie's a person, Banjobabe, and his friends certainly hadn't hanged him! So not quite 'always' hanged.
As I - and the OED - said earlier, many people also use hung to mean executed, so not 'always' in terms of usage there either.
(I was just having a little joke in my opening paragraph, ma'am.)
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