Morans (sic) in M$M don't know the past tense of "hang".

[karlrschneider]

CNN just reported the Gitmo guys "hung" themselves...and Yahoo makes the same dumb mistake. jeezusfuckingchrist..
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060610/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/guantanamo_suicides


It is HANGED, you stupid bastards!!!!!!!111!!1!1!
:grr: :eyes: :puke:

[jeff30997]

1. I thought it was hing!

:)

[Kutjara]

2. Oh, God, don't get me started.

I'm only about half a step from being a tedious pedant at the best of times, so it takes very little for me to start frothing at the mouth about mangled English. My wife confessed to me the other week that she dreads spotting public signs with misplaced apostrophes, because she knows that, the second I see it, I'll go off on a purple-faced rant about the failings of our educational system for the next fifteen minutes.

I mean, I can even get worked up about the use of 'decimated' to mean 'wiped out,' when we all know it means 'one in ten.' How pitiful is that? I think I need a 12 step program.

[Gabi Hayes]

5. what's the singular of kudos?

how do you pronounce it?

[Kutjara]

10. You're feeding my addiction.

We congenital nitpickers learned in the cradle that kudos is a singular noun. As for pronunciation, there is a slight siblant 'j' sound in the transition between the 'k' and the 'u', but this is typically dropped in modern useage.

Oh God, I need help.


edit: forgot to mention that the 'o' sound is short, as in 'otter.'

[Gabi Hayes]

35. so, it's like chutzpah, pronounciation-wise?

never heard about that, but a big kudos for the rest!

[Recursion]

65. "kudos" is singular

It's greek. The plural is "kude"

[Gabi Hayes]

84. did you know that I'm nudos right now?

my GF and I are n...

[Sal Minella]

21. It must be a kink in the DNA helixes or something.....

I have an extensive collection of pallet-palate-palette misuses, some from very fine newspapers and magazines. Most people seem to be clueless about council/counsel, and the frequency of lose/loose woman/women than/then errors on this board is enough to give me cardiac arrest.

I also have a copy of a Day Care poster with the enticements, "Great Home Environment" and "Preschool Preperation."

At the drop of a semicolon, I will launch into a ten-minute lecture on the hyphen, the em-dash and the en-dash. I bet you can't beat that one......Ha!!!

[Kutjara]

24. Wow! That's impressive.

I've been known to go a bit squiffy over hyphen misuse, but it sounds like you've definitely got me beat on the range and duration of your rant. The degree to which I'm impressed is a good indication of my sickness.

[Sal Minella]

32. But I blush to admit being not-at-all secure about "shall" and "will"

and I've meaning to look that up for years.

The M-dash is the width of the capital M in that particular typeface.

The N-dash is the width of a number, is used for a space-holder in columns of figures, and is used to hyphenate when one of the elements is already itself hyphenated.

I still go to embarrassing lengths to avoid splitting an infinitive.

Can you deliver a brief excursus on shall/will?

[Kutjara]

40. I shan't! I won't! Oh all right, I shall.

Shall and will are used to denote events that will happen in future. There is bewildering complexity about how the two words entered the language and the roles they were assigned, but the traditional view is that 'shall' is used to express a sense of command or obligation, while 'will' expresses a wish. Therefore 'shall' is commonly said to be appropriate when a statement about future events is 'devoid of emotional content,' while 'will' is used for things about which there is some amount of personal investment.

'Thou shalt not steal' is a command from on high.
'I will not steal' is a personal moral affirmation.

That's how I learned it, anyway, but there is an interesting article on Wikipedia that says the whole distinction may be bunkum because a consistent useage has never been agreed. Here's the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shall

In modern useage, shall seems to be taking the role of an intensified version of will. If you want to be more forceful in giving instructions, you say "You shall go to the ball!" It's likely that, in a generation or two, shall may well disappear from the language entirely.

[Sal Minella]

55. Yes, thanks. This bright spark of recognition just blazed to life,

dormant lo, these many years. What a great link. Am too tired right now to absorb the content, but will return later. Thank you.

[Flubadubya]

82. "Definately"...

Don't you just love that one? Gag!

[ima_sinnic]

31. I do sympathize, I'm the same way (professional copy editor) but

"to reduce drastically esp. in numbers (cholera decimated the population)" and "to cause great destruction or harm to (firebombs decimated the city) (an industry decimated by recession)" are perfectly acceptable definitions of decimate, per Merriam Webster Collegiate 11th ed.

[Kutjara]

44. A curse on the houses of Mirriam and Webster.

Believe me, I know that the meaning of decimate has changed to include the popular meaning but I'm not one to let that little fact get in the way of a good rant. Don't get me started on terrific.

Now you must excuse me, I have to go wipe froth off my chin.

[ima_sinnic]

47. well, language does evolve

otherwise we'd still be speaking Old English and ending the 3rd person singular with "th"
the only other option is to have a nervous breakdown over something beyond your control (which I do most of the time myself, anyway, but not over language) :)

[Kutjara]

49. Evolve? Evolve?

What is this evolve of which you speak? Don't you know that English was created by God as a perfect language and therefore has no need to evolve? Its just degenerate homosexuals and...er...activist judges...or something...who say that language evolves.

Just like people, God made English on June 17th, BC 4004 (at about 3:30pm, just before his nap) and it hasn't changed a whit since. So, I prithee, begone with your churlish ramblings. Forsooth.

[spacelady]

71. I like the way you talk. n/t

[hootinholler]

76. That was really funny.

I'm happy not to see l33t sp34|<

-Hoot

[RebelOne]

70. I am also a professional copy editor, but according to my dictionary,

hung is not entirely wrong, just that hanged is preferable to hung

[ima_sinnic]

75. bwahaha, the example that Merriam Webster gives:

they actually have a bit of a discussion, noting that "Hanged is most appropriate for official executions (he was to be hanged, cut down whilst still alive, and his bowels torn out--Louis Allen) (sheesh) . . . Hung is more appropriate for less formal hangings (by morning I'll be hung in effigy--Ronald Reagan)" :D

on edit: figures--the illiterate puke knuckle-dragger used it wrong, but because of his "importance," I guess, it officialized it.

[Clark2008]

37. I'm very literal, myself.

I hate it when people, for example, use the term "anti-Semitic" when referred to Arab-Muslim zealots. Why? Because Arabs are Semitic, as well, and I seriously doubt they are "anti" themselves.

I know in popular use it means "anti-Jewish," but it's incorrect when you break it down.

BTW: Decimate originally referred to the killing of every tenth person, a punishment used in the Roman army for mutinous legions. Today this meaning is commonly extended to include the killing of any large proportion of a group. Sixty-six percent of the Usage Panel accepts this extension in the sentence The Jewish population of Germany was decimated by the war, even though it is common knowledge that the number of Jews killed was much greater than a tenth of the original population. However, when the meaning is further extended to include large-scale destruction other than killing, as in The supply of fresh produce was decimated by the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, only 26 percent of the Panel accepts the usage.

[Kutjara]

45. Excellent info on anti-Semitic.

That's something I can really get my teeth into. You have no idea the boredom I can bring to the lives of friends and acquaintances with this. You have my undying gratitude.

The 'decimate' quote is also fascinating. So it seems like the meaning has grown beyond the 10% sense, but not as far as total destruction. Interesting.

[Recursion]

68. I'm also not fond of "homophobic"

That was coined in the 1960s to refer to an aversion to homosexuals based on the theory that such aversion is based on one's fear that he himself is homosexual -- a theory I understand is now largely discredited. Even if it were not discredited, it's an example of a naming that confuses the symptom and the syndrome, something I am against.

[spacelady]

80. I wish I was was so literally literate. I could care less if I could

literally die!

[Cell Whitman]

69. Don't read my posts unless you have defibrillator handy

I don't know a comma from a coma. In fact, since I don't know when to use a colon or semi-colon... I figured our that one should use a semi colon maybe about 1/12th of the time between the two. So I just use all semi colons in February and colons the rest of the year. Works for me. :7

[JerseyGuy]

3. Yahoo got it right

The "hung" was part of a quote from Rear Admiral Harry Harris.

[Gabi Hayes]

6. speaking of Harry....

Harry Reams is very well hanged

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

54. There It Would Be Hung.

[benddem]

4. didn't know that

thanks for the grammar lesson. dictionary.com agrees with you.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Oh the spelling and grammatical errors in the MSM are ridiculous

Our local news is the worst. And watch the scroll at the bottom of the screen on the 24/7 news channels. The spell words wrong all the time.

[Nicole]

59. Sorry to laugh but

The spell words wrong all the time?

That just looks funny in a post about spelling errors. :rofl:

[proud2BlibKansan]

60. LOL That is funny!

And I ran spell check! damn. Now sshhhh :)

:rofl:

[XanaDUer]

8. That always drives me crazy, too.

...

[TahitiNut]

9. Does that mean the past tense of "rang" is "ranged"?

:dunce: :silly: "They hanged on his every word." :wtf:

By rights (they) should be taken out and hung
For the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue

http://www.bartleby.com/68/1/2901.html

[karlrschneider]

11. It might be. I guess I've bung a few people in my time.

:evilgrin:

[Kutjara]

12. Pictures are hung, people are hanged.

So I guess that means bells are rung, weapons are ranged.

Sorry, pitiful joke.

[karlrschneider]

13. Did you hear about the plastic surgeon who

hung himself?

Ewww.....

I prolly shouldn'ta said that, in light of the Gitmo thing but sometimes I lack the will to moderate my sick sense of humor.
...

[Kutjara]

15. That's nasty...

...I love it.

[MaineDem]

19. "Pictures are hung, people are hanged"

I remember the handwritten words of my English teacher on an essay I wrote saying exactly that same thing. It's been over 35 years but i remember it like it was yesterday.

[Tansy_Gold]

41. No

You remember it AS IF IT WERE yesterday.


:evilgrin:

sorry, I've just had a really bad afternoon and thread is giving me back my perspective.

[MaineDem]

43. My head is hung in shame

:evilgrin:

[SPKrazy]

14. They Are Morans

who never felt the need to learn grammar as they were only going to be SPEAKING and probably not writing.

from Yahoo Education's Dictionary:

Hanged, as a past tense and a past participle of hang, is used in the sense of "to put to death by hanging," as in Frontier courts hanged many a prisoner after a summary trial. A majority of the Usage Panel objects to hung used in this sense. In all other senses of the word, hung is the preferred form as past tense and past participle, as in I hung my child's picture above my desk.

edited because "The are Morans" made me look like a moran

[Igel]

16. For now it's "hanged".

Lots of people make the mistake.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2331595&mesg_id=2331701
Not to point out this poster, really, just to show an example that not only MSM does it.

Do you like 'dived' or 'dove' for the past tense of 'dive'? 'Lit' or 'lighted'? Or the famous 'got' versus 'gotten'? "Rided" is just completely obsolete.

A student in my class did a paper a few years ago on the past participle/preterite formation of a scad of irregular verbs among 20- to 22-year-old white college students at a fairly good private East Coast school. They were all over the place. The observation that English past tenses are in flux is an understatement.

It used to be a mostly working class trait, screwing up preterite forms. Now reasonably educated young'ns are confused over it. _Their_ kids will have merged the verbs, except in the most formal of styles.

If it's any consolation, with the fall of the Soviet Union the grammar police over there went bonkers, what with the demise of 'the culture of speech' and with editors no longer making sure the codified rules were followed. The things labeled 'colloquial' in the orthoepic dictionaries became more or less normal in the public sphere, the things labeled 'not recommended' became fairly common, and the 'incorrect' entries were heard from time to time. Esp. by politicians and activists.

[karlrschneider]

27. Sigh. Yes, of course you're right, languages do evolve, I realize,

but I don't have to like it. :D

A short vignette: One day we entered our English class (Junior year in HS)
and observed the words "shit" and "piss" writ large on the (green) blackboard. Much tittering transpired as we sat (seated?) ourselves, all wondering which of us was the miscreant. (This was in 1958)

Mr. Guinn entered, glanced at the board and took his seat to peruse some papers as we all silently debated with ourselves what his likely reaction might be. After a minute or two, he stood up and spake thus:

"If you're wondering who wrote those words, you can stop worrying, I did."
He then launched into a short yet cogent treatise on how those 2 words weren't considered "dirty" (he may have used the word 'obscene', I don't recall) years ago but for unclear reasons became unacceptable in polite society...as it were. :-)

He also had us read Catcher in the Rye that year which caused him no small amount of grief when certain fundy parents (and teachers) discovered it.

He was a great teacher and a great guy. :D

[SharonAnn]

63. What about "Me and her went..." or "Him and me went"... it's my

granddaughter who says this and it drives me nuts.

"Me and her"? What ever happened to the perfectly good "She and I"?

[Tansy_Gold]

66. How about

"I and him seen. . . . ."


Overheard just this afternoon. . ..

:grr:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

87. What happened to "she and I"

Pretentious people say things like "with she and I" on the assumption that it sounds more elegant or educated. That is one of my pet peeves. You don't say "with she," and you don't say "with I."

Why on earth would you say "with she and I"?

[Igel]

90. It drives me nuts, too.

I've just learned to ignore it unless I'm grading a paper or talking about how case assignment in standard English works.

There's one argument I seem to want to make about how 'and' works in these cases, but I think it fails in the light of the data (data's everything: you have to work out the sentence paradigms and make sure you have all the data ... and it's not my dialect). H.L. Mencken apparently described it. Here's a link to a Linglist archived posting with the reference (I'll cut and past the pertinent bit):
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9112d&L=linguist&P=385

-----
In H.L. Mencken's >The American Language< (citing from memory, so I don't
have the page numbers or such) he explains the rules for pronoun case
swapping in Nonstandard American English.
1) A subject adjacent to the verb is always nominative: "I went to the store."
2) An object adjacent to the verb or governing preposition is always accusative:
"John shot me."
3) A subject separated from the verb is accusative: "Him and John went to
the store."
4) An object separated from the verb or governing preposition is nominative:
"He gave it to John and I."
Mencken uses the term "conjoint" for forms adjacent to the verb, and "absolute"
for forms not adjacent; for example, the answer to "Who's there?" is "Me", which
is an absolute subject. *"Me is there" would be conjoint, and thus is
ungrammatical.
... There is an exception to these rules.
When the separating element is another pronoun, its case agrees with that of the separated pronoun: "Him and me went to the store.", also "Mary gave it
to he and I."
------

Now, the citer of Mencken's 1921 text cleaned up the exposition quite a bit; but since it has what appear to be rules, it's a grammar--just a dialectal one. http://www.bartleby.com/185/41.html#txt84 (about half way down) shows it's actually messier and rich in detail and exceptions, so maybe Mencken is imposing order on dialect chaos to make his point. But his data, surely well established in 1921, dings the view that "between you and I" is a recent hypercorrection, and his rules seem to account for a lot of the data I've seen. It also makes it a few generations older--your grand-daughter's not being new and stylish. Just rebellious. Tell her many of the dough boys in WWI would have been comfortable with how she's speaking; she may change it.

If it's any consolation, try applying what we learned in grade or high school to these:
"So, SharonAnn, I think * is doing a great job as prez! What do *you* think?" Do you say, "I? I think he sucks" or do you say "Me? I think he sucks"? I'm guessing 'me' is the only option.

"He plays fiddle better than I" versus "he plays fiddle better than me." "It's he" versus "it's him." "I" and "he" sound stilted. Old fashioned.

Mencken's description covers these, now standard. But you know, the school grammar (and case theory in grad school) I was taught didn't cover them. Text grammars are uniformly conservative. And this wasn't Chomsky's dialect, either.

Even if this is far more than you wanted, at least it was interesting to rummage and run into Mencken's work.

[SPKrazy]

17. I Still Have Hang Ups About "Snuck"

Grew up with an English Teacher and a Journalism (print) Teacher.

Snuck wasn't a word I was allowed to say. Popular culture and it's increased use has made it more legit, but still: (from the Yahoo Education Dictionary:

ETYMOLOGY:
Probably akin to Middle English sniken, to creep, from Old English sncan
Usage Note:
Snuck is an Americanism first introduced in the 19th century as a nonstandard regional variant of sneaked. Widespread use of snuck has become more common with every generation. It is now used by educated speakers in all regions. Formal written English is more conservative than other varieties, of course, and here snuck still meets with much resistance. Many writers and editors have a lingering unease about the form, particularly if they recall its nonstandard origins. And 67 percent of the Usage Panel disapproved of snuck in our 1988 survey. Nevertheless, an examination of recent sources shows that snuck is sneaking up on sneaked. Snuck was almost 20 percent more common in newspaper articles published in 1995 than it was in 1985. Snuck also appears in the work of many respected columnists and authors: "He ran up huge hotel bills and then snuck out without paying" (George Stade). "He had snuck away from camp with a cabinmate" (Anne Tyler). "I ducked down behind the paperbacks and snuck out" (Garrison Keillor).

[spacelady]

79. That really Snucks! What a sneaky word. n/t

[The Magistrate]

18. Indeed, Mr. Schneider

Pictures are hung; men are hanged.

[TahitiNut]

20. Well, let's speak for ourselves, sir.

:silly: :evilgrin: :hide:

[karlrschneider]

23. ROTFLMAO!!!

:D

[The Magistrate]

26. Well Done, Mr. Nut!

[oasis]

57. Good 'un.

;-)

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

61. Speaking as one who knows...

it's all good.

[TahitiNut]

85. Ahhhh....

.... someone who knows how to spell Kegel. :dunce: Bravo!! Some of my favorite memories ... well ... :evilgrin:
Let's just say I find spelling bee champions very attractive. :silly:

[karlrschneider]

22. If I did what I would like, to Mr. Bush, I likely would be both.

In certain jurisdictions. :-)

[spacelady]

72. Sir, would you refer to it as a "sling blade" or a "Kaiser blade"?

That is the question.

[Lefty-Taylor]

25. I teach writing to artists and many of them can't get their hands around

the lie/lay issue -- no matter what I do. They say, "It just doesn't sound right to say 'Yesterday I lay down.'" I tell them, often dogmatically, I'm afraid, "Well, it IS right!" Sigh.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

88. And my students looked startled when I told them

that I hadn't ever drunk the Japanese beverage known as shochu.

"You mean you haven't ever drank it."

"No, I mean I haven't ever drunk it."

And yes, "lie" and "lay" are hopeless. I take exercise classes at the local YWCA, and the two foreign-born instructors I have had distinguish "lie" and "lay" flawlessly, while the American-born instructors always say things like, "Lay back and do sit ups."

[Clark2008]

28. I know... I hate it when they use "plead" for "pleaded," too.

In law, it's PLEADED guilty to, not PLEAD guilty to.

Geesch. You'd think someone who's bread and butter is the written word would know how to use it properly!

:grr:

(Caveat: I was a newspaper reporter for 12 years. For eight of those years I covered emergency service personnel and courts, which required that I know that "John Doe hanged himself" and "John Doe pleaded guilty to murder," for example.)

[karlrschneider]

33. There seems to be a large number of people who own stock in

apostrophe company's (see?), as well. Hell, I'd invest myself if could find the stock symbol! :D

[Clark2008]

39. Did I mess up my "who's?"

Why, hell, yes I did.

My editor used to fuss at me about that. :rofl:

I have a mental block distinguishing "who's" and "whose," but at least I had an editor who caught it before it made it into print, for Heaven's sake!!

:rofl:

[Jazz2006]

62. Pled is also an acceptable past tense

of plead.

:D

[KayLaw]

29. Grammar sticklers! Question for you . . .

Is there a strict "was/were" rule? Sometimes I'm confused in that arena. Is it "If I were a carpenter or If I was a carpenter?"

[ima_sinnic]

36. "If I were" is called subjunctive mood, a possible or wished-for

state, or fact viewed emotionally.
it's a real nit-picker. but "if I were you" of "if I were to win the lottery" is correct. The "if" changes everything because of course, normally, "I was" is correct.

[Lefty-Taylor]

51. I tell my students to remember the song from "Fiddler on the Roof" when

trying to remember the correct use of the subjunctive mood: "If I were a rich man ...." (Not "was.") Of course, I can't use that much longer as already some of my students don't know this musical reference. Still, it helps some of them.

[Sal Minella]

52. Subjunctive!!!! That's the word I couldn't remember!

another bad one on this board -- "populous" fairly consistently used for "populace."

[Sal Minella]

46. Here's a shot -- somebody will correct this if wrong, I hope --

"If I were a carpenter" in the song refers to something that is not true.

but I'm pretty sure it's "He asked me if I was a carpenter."

So...As for the farm, if it was July, we expected heat and flies.

But...If it were July, we could go swimming and have ice cream.

Or as my mother used to say,
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride;
If wishes were fishes, we'd all have some fried.

If she was in a good mood, she quoted things like that.
If she were still alive, she'd be tickled I remembered it.

[ima_sinnic]

48. yes, that is my understanding of it

when it's "wishful thinking" or simply not true, it would be "were." I like your examples, by the way, I was trying to frame it that way in my original post but my brain is kind of mushy right now :)

[ashling]

30. no, but some of them

can actuallly spell moron. :sarcasm:

[kath]

38. Uhh, are you really unaware of why the term "Moran" is used here so

frequently?
Someone post the picture, please.

[ashling]

56. YES

Certainly I am aware of that. That Nimrod couldn't spell either.

I am on a one DUer campaign to put this particular childish use of their stupidity to rest.

[spacelady]

83. But, but, it's so funny?!11!

[LibertyorDeath]

34. So it should be "he is well hanged"

Ain'ts gots ta be thas way.

Relax listen to Fuhrer booshes lexicon & the rest will seem stellar.

[Totallybushed]

42. The deterioration in

education over the last 40/50 years is depressing.

[hfojvt]

50. "No it ain't, no it ain't, but you gotta know the territory"

My 1964 unabridged defines hung as "pt and pp of hang"

I was taught the convention that it is "hanged" for an execution or suicide, and hung for all other uses. However, I believe that convention is no longer followed any more than people say "Smokey THE Bear".

For hang, this dictionary says "hung or (esp for 4,5,17, 22) (definitions involving capital punishment) hanged"

The "or" implies that "hung" is also correct usage.

[spacelady]

81. What does it say about ain't?

[hfojvt]

89. everybody knows "ain't ain't good English"

but as I was quoting "The Music Man" I was, as always, 100% correct. :P

The dictionary says "nonstandard in US except in some dialects; informal in British" "am not" as in "I ain't making this sh*t up" (although that is my sample sentence). It is understood by a full 99.44% of English speakers, and ain't understanding the purpose of language? But to quote Cher "There's not enough love and understanding."

[spacelady]

92. Well, don't that tear that rag offen that bush!

Probably not 100% accurate, but guess the source!

[fishwax]

93. but people do say "Smokey THE Bear," and that's wrong

:)

My mother (a grade school teacher) used to have forest rangers come speak to her class occasionally. One year she told the forest ranger a Smokey (the) Bear joke. (A typically silly joke, given that she's taught 5th grade for 25+ years):

What's Smokey The Bear's Middle Name? ... "the" (:rofl::cry:)

Anyway, that particular ranger saw no humor in that whatsoever, and informed my mother (rather cooly, according to mom) that it's smokey bear, not smokey the bear.

Apparently there was a song that came out in the early 50s that confused the issue:
http://www.smokeybear.com/faq.asp

[hfojvt]

94. that website is full of crap

up until the early 1990 EVERYONE said Smokey THE Bear. Smokey's name is only Smokey, and he is THE bear who promotes fire safety. In the early 1990's some anal retentive grammarian in the forest service decided, incorrectly, that it was incorrect to use "the" and they ran an ad campaign to promote the new name, and explain to all us old fogeys why what we had been saying for 20+ years (of my life that is) was wrong. They are full of sh*t though and their whole campaign is the thing which is wrong. Smokey the bear, smokey the bear, smokey the bear. So there. What I tell you three times is true.

disclaimer: hfojvt is president and founder of the "preserve the 'the' foundation" established in 1991.

[fishwax]

96. sounds like a very worthy organization

hfojvt is president and founder of the "preserve the 'the' foundation" established in 1991.

I say: keep fighting the good fight ;)

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

53. You Are Absolutely Correct. Hung Is Right For Everything Else, But Hanged

is the correct word to be used in reference to having dangled from a rope.

[Recursion]

67. Not quite

"hanged" is causative. They "hanged" themselves; the executioner "hanged" a pickpocket. They were "hanged". The patientative (if that's the word I'm looking for) is "hung". They "hung" by the neck until dead. He "hung" for his crimes.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

73. Not Quite.

Used in the context of "They hung by the neck until dead", the term hung is being used same as it would when saying "I hung a towel on the door", so that is why hung is correct. When used in that way, it is not talking about the punishment of 'hanging' at all. As far as your final example, that is factually incorrect I believe. The correct phrase would be "He was hanged for his crimes".

So if both of your example are not quite accurate, then maybe my original reply was 'quite' after all LOL

[Contrary1]

58. Maybe they were talking about William Hung

[Thirtieschild]

64. I fume every time I hear/read "up with"

as in "meet up with", "join up with", et al. What's wrong with "meet", "join", et al?

[spacelady]

74. By the way, what's all this talk about endangered racehorses?

Their seams too bee plenny of them.

[hyphenate]

77. Eh!

They'll hang themselves yet! (sorry, couldn't resist)

Well, as I've said often enough, we're failing our future generations if less and less of them learn proper English grammar and spelling. Pretty soon, it will be the nincompoops in charge of the dictionaries, and English--aka American English--will be shit in the toilet.

[upi402]

78. Wadda ya expect? They report on pseudo porn all the time

As in, "well hung" being their main past tense familiarity associated with the word 'hang'.
yesterday I hung
today I hing
tomorrow I'll hang
when China attains hegemony I'll hong

[Nay]

86. Surely you are silly for expecting writers and broadcasters and

journalists to actually speak and write correct English. Who needs it anymore, as long as they get their points across? Isn't it all about COMMUNICATING and not being hung up on useless stuff like grammar??
:sarcasm:

[SnohoDem]

91. They said you was hung!

They was right!

-Blazing Saddles (1974)

[rucky]

95. Did someone say "Hung"?...