FROM CLEO

Is it "hanged" or "hung"?

RESPONSE

Tradition says people are hanged and everything else is hung, but either one is fine as far as meaning. I like "hanged" for people because it sounds and feels harsher than "hung". Say the two words. "Hanged" requires way more effort to say than "hung", and it sounds nastier, so I stick with tradition on this one.

Actually, I use "hanged" anytime I want to portray cruelty or ugliness or anything out of the ordinary. Suppose a man's wife buys an ugly piece of art, and her husband hates it. In telling a friend about it, he might say, "She hanged that monstrosity in my den." Sounds worse than "hung", doesn't it? He sounds more tense, doesn't he? And maybe the husband could follow it with "It's too bad it wasn't the artist instead of the picture."