An irregular history of ‘hung’ and ‘hang’

QUESTION Why are clothes ‘hung’ but men ‘hanged’? THE difference between these forms lies in whether you are hanging a person or a thing.

Coats and pictures are hung, and sometimes so are juries, but criminals are hanged – suspended by the neck for the purpose of causing death.

But the fact that a person is suspended doesn’t mean that hanged is the right word. Benito Mussolini and his mistress were executed and their bodies hung upside down. Press incorrectly reported they were hanged.

The two words came from different verbs in Old English and Old Norse. ‘Hang’ was a fusion of Old English hon (suspend, past tense heng) and Old English hangian (to be suspended, past tense hangode), influenced by Old

Norse hengja (suspend) and hanga (to be suspended). One of these Old English words was a regular verb, giving rise to ‘hanged’, the other was irregular and became ‘hung’.

The distinction has lasted so long in the context of executions because it was the form used in legal English.

This legalese works like lexical formaldehyde. The context encourages a style that becomes fixed over time, preserving forms that fall out of ordinary use.

‘Hanged’ also survives in idioms such as ‘I’ll be hanged if . . .’ But in more modern idioms, ‘hung’ wins out – after all, he’s not ‘well hanged’!

Janet Correl, Lincoln. QUESTION Could Barack Obama run for president again in 2020? Does the US constitution allow a third term if it is not consecutive? THE answer is no. The 22nd Amendment to the US constitution states that ‘no person shall be elected to the office of President more than twice’.

That amendment was introduced in 1947 in reaction to Franklyn D. Roosevelt, who had served an unprecedented four terms.

Brian Casey, Dublin 18.