"Hanged" vs "Hung"

[HornungTheHelpful]

I've noticed recently that it appears to be increasingly common to refer to a person as having been "hung" rather than "hanged". I find it really jarring. OED Online confirms that "hung" is not the past tense of "hang" where it refers to the punishment of hanging.

Presumably at some point the OED will embrace it so I may as well get used to it now. But AIBU to ask if anyone else finds it a jarring form of speech? (please take as read all of the necessary caveats about how it's a nice problem to have, if it bothers me I should just ignore it, why am I such a snob about language, I've started a sentence with a conjunction so can I really criticise etc, etc).

Dived is correct British English.

He was well hanged

Has quite a different meaning to

He was well hung

😁

They should hang the artist who hung the painting.

Its just lighthearted chit chat at the bus stop

But consensus seems to be I’m jarred and right, whereas … I got an idea in my head when I was younger that it was disrespectful to refer to a person as being “hung” like meat, but as an adult possibly the example given by a pp of what a man being hung means in modern parlance should be of greater concern

You probably are jarred and right, and Im just jarred

I contributed a lot to the recent thread 'things you mispronounce but dont care (or words to that effect'

So thats me.

Fair enough. The world would be a boring place if we were all the same.

Running joke in our house that i'll shout 'HANGED!' at the telly when they say someone was hung. Grr.

V pleased to learn about why hung drawn and quartered is correct/diff though... so thanks for that MN

I also bristle if I hear "hung" referring to a person who has been executed. It really grates on me. The history of the c19th and c20th British death penalty is an interest of mine - and I do wince a bit if I see things referring to people who were "hung". The Sutcliffe thread has really annoyed me tonight!

Also pretty sure it was "hanged, drawn and quartered", too.

disrespectful to refer to a person as being “hung” like meat
Less disrespectful than the actual hanging though.😏

I don't think this error is getting more common.
More importantly, though, as hanging recedes into the past, the idioms around it are starting to fall into the category of archaic. Although it is just about possible now to continue to think of 'hung' as an error, I don't think it will be reasonable to regard it that way for much longer. It isn't usual to require modern speakers to grope their way back into archaic idioms when they speak of superseded practices.

I can't say I ever really come across this usage. I don't tend to read or discuss hanging. This is probably why it is falling out of use.

People are hanged. Anything that doesn't involve active participation is hung.
Not sure how much 'active participation' is involved when you are getting hanged. If it was me, I'm thinking I would be pretty passive and let the executioner put the actual effort in. It's not like a self-service checkout.

Does someone who is hanged actively participate?

Can I join 🙋 totally agree with everything here… and will say that I use dove (American) as past tense for dive.

My current ear itch is when people add ‘er’ to a word they shouldn’t.

Stupider instead of more stupid… or stupidest instead of most stupid. Allegedly both are correct but I don’t believe it. Nor would Sister Barbara who instilled the basics of grammar into my impressionable head.

According to my old History teacher, a pheasant is hung, drawn and quartered; prisoners were hanged, drawn and quartered.

I agree. This is something I learnt at school in 70's and has stayed with me. I think it came from my German teacher but I can't remember the context. It's pedantic but I always correct people when they get it wrong!

Hung means something very different- think Donald Trump’s description of Arnold Palmer.

Sherlock makes it clear.

Yes, it was "half hanged" iirc - they were cut down alive and then disembowelled.

Very annoying ad on radio at the moment, someone says 'the bell rung'. No. It rang because the bell was rung.

Women got the rope too. Not just men.

Yes. They might not like it, but they are are active...

Constantly in our house, what else is there to talk about? Pictures are hung, people are hanged. We may stray into a hoist by his own petard if the mood takes us.

Men can be "well hung" (or not).

Yes , being a pedant is a compliment where language is concerned. Using language correctly can only be a good thing surely? Not whilst looking down or judging those who don’t of course.