Hung vs. hanged

[Guar]

Test No. errors/advan-3 "The audience went wild", question 3

Since the abolition of capital punishment in this country murderers are not hung if they are found guilty.

(a) abolition
(b) capital punishment
(c) hung
(d) guilty

Test No. errors/advan-3 "The audience went wild", answer 3

Since the abolition of capital punishment in this country murderers are not hanged if they are found guilty.

Correct entry: hanged
The error was: (c) hung
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Why is it "he was hanged" and not "he was hung?" When is hung right?

Guar

[Alan]

The simple explanation of which past participle of the verb hang to use is that people are hanged by the neck and pictures are hung on the wall.
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English as a Second Language
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[Mariya]

[Alan]

Simply hanged for people and hung for things.
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English as a Foreign Language
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[IOtroll]

of the vulgar connoations of someone "being" hung? or because it was something established when the practice of hanging was still common ie: dialect, or period legal clause?

[Alan]

Sorry, can you say again?
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English as a Second Language
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[erthr]

so it's hang for people and hung for animals? Thank you

[Alan]

There are two past forms for this verb:

hung and hanged. The first one simply means something as for example a picture on a wall and the second one means hanged by the neck.
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[Vishal]

Hung is used when the thing is hanging contineously for long time.(like a portrait on the wall). We can also say that:-
"The culprit was hanged and this corpse was hung on the tree."

[Prezbucky]

or:

The culprit was hanged and his/her/the corpse was hung on the tree.

Unless there's more than one corpse, there's no need to use the modifier "this".
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[Nerd]

hi Allan... i remember there are no such irregular/regular verb for hanged.... isnt it suppose to be hang- hung- hung...

[Lost_Soul]

Hi, Nerd

Alan has stated that
There are two past forms for this verb:

hung and hanged. The first one simply means something as for example a picture on a wall and the second one means hanged by the neck.

It just so happens that to hang in its one meaning is a regular verb and in the other - irregular :)

[Nerd]

ok then i know thanks

[Backburner]

Another reason, besides the correctness, not to use "hung" as a verb when referring to people is that it's also a gender-specific vulgar adjective in reference to men. Most men would take it as complimentary, but it's still considered impolite in many circles.

[Saranne]

Does the people vs. object rule apply when using the expression "hang out"?
For example, would you say "We hung out this weekend," because it sounds better, or "We hanged out this weekend," because you're dealing with people?