english

Always put in the hyphen if it is likely that any French-speakers will read it, as otherwise it looks just like the French word for "enamel". (In fact after cataloguing a few dozen French books on decorative metalwork I now can't help reading "email" as the French word even though I'm not a French speaker.)

to hang (meaning to suspend an object): hang, hung, hung.

to hang (meaning to execute someone): hang, hanged, hanged.

Jeeze, you're just as stuffed full of sh*t as an old christmas goose--to be hung in effigy is not to be executed, it is however, the suspension of an object. You're just desparate to make me to be wrong on any occasion which seems to you to offer.

Students in ESL want to get practical information on how the languaged is used, so that they may express themselves properly without appearing to be fools, and so that they can understand seeming contradictions in the language without seeming to be ignorant of it.

That's a mighty big assumption to leap to given your level of experience, isn't it, Setanta? Further, it's pretty silly to make uneducated guesses about what any student needs. Why would you, a stickler for historical detail, think it appropriate to provide false info to anyone on any subject?


That it is possible to find citations in which "hung" was used to mean executed is very much beside the point. ESL students don't want pedantic and obscure usage information--neither do they want information which will make them appear uneducated when they use the language.

You illustrate clearly that you don't know the meaning of pedantic, Setanta. Without rancor, you are the pedant here trying to pass off something of which you have little knowledge.

First, usage information is precisely what ESLs need. How else are they to know how English works? By following the memorized rules of folks who have spent no time actually studying language. No thinking person would suggest this.

You illustrate your ignorance on this issue by making the unwarranted assumption that people who use the irregular form for this meaning are "uneducated". This is often the refuge of someone who fears the truth or someone who lacks the ability to actually research a topic.

There are a large number of educated lawyers and judges who use 'hung' for the very simple reason that in English "[M]any irregular verbs have regular variants. In these cases, there are usually marked preferences for one alternative or another, influenced by several major factors."

Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English wrote:

The majority of educated speaker of English understand the distinction which i made to be correct, and providing such information to ESL students is a practical matter--without regard to your obsessional love of obscure pedantry.

You seem to be very good at making bold statements that have nothing in the way of proof to back them up, Set. I hope you don't take this same cavalier attitude towards your study of history.

Many educated speakers think they know a great deal about language and they're surprised, nay, shocked to find out they don't. This is just one more example of a long standing bit of pedantry.

Some speakers, in some dialects, follow this pattern that you've described. That doesn't make it the rule for all of English. The google results below give us a clear indication that this "rule" and I use the term lightly, is not an accurate portrayal of language.

If I were the pedant you suggest, I would have long ago remarked that "[T]he majority of educated speaker [sic] of English" unfailingly use <I> rather than <i> for the personal pronoun.

Why not cut those speakers who use 'hung' a little slack, especially considering that you are out to lunch on this particular issue.

Google.ca results:

Results 1 - 10 of about 310 for "hanged by the neck".

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,010 for "hung by the neck".


Google.com results:

Results 1 - 10 of about 11,100 for "hanged by the neck".

Results 1 - 10 of about 6,250 for "hung by the neck".


Google.co.uk results:

Results 1 - 10 of about 811 for "hanged by the neck".

Results 1 - 10 of about 379 for "hung by the neck".

By the way, you don't know a damned thing about me. It is tedious to so often read that you "know" this or that about me. About the only thing you might reasonable assert as a sound inference about me, is that i hold you in contempt.

Goldmund, in French-speaking Canada, they do seem to have a problem, as they attempt to get people to use couriel rather than "email," but apparently with no success. I've read something similar about France, but don't recall the difference.

... all the tirades of all the grammarians since the Renaissance sound like the prattlings of landscape gardeners who hope by frantic efforts to keep Alaska from bumping into Asia.

The Decline of Grammar: Geoffrey Nunberg

http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/correct/decline/

to speak: speak, spoke, spoken.