Using "hang-up" in a story, I was struck by the odd hyphenation. There doesn't appear to be any valid justification for it (aside from not confusing it with hanging up a telephone, which doesn't seem terribly likely nowadays).
Does anyone know why it's hyphenated? (Just for my own piece of mine, as I'm a sucker for etymology.)
Does anyone know why it's hyphenated?
It's a singular concept, so hyphenate to identify it as a noun?
It's a singular concept, so hyphenate to identify it as a noun?
That's pretty straightforward. Thanks!
According to Merriam-Webster it's simply how the word is written/defined, no specific reason. Without the hyphen it's a verb.
For the same reason hard-on and make-up are hyphenated. The hyphenation turns it into a noun. Make-up nowadays is also spelled makeup so maybe it will be hangup some day (actually, my browser didn't flag it as a typo - Word did, though).
And hang up is more than hanging up a telephone. You hang up clothes.
Neither "death by hanging" nor "hanged by the neck until you are dead" (distinct sentences that vary in knot placement - the first places the knot on the side of the neck to snap the neck, the second places the knot behind the neck to provide a death by asphyxiation) involves hanging anything (or anyone) "up".
involves hanging anything (or anyone) "up".
I'm pretty sure that "hang em up" has at least been used in reference to lynchings.
I think in that reference it's more typically "string 'em up", but you may have been at more lynchings than I, so I'll concede.
I'm pretty sure that "hang em up" has at least been used in reference to lynchings.
More typically it's 'high 'em high', which is a reference to the public display of the death as a celebration and warning to others (usually with distinct racial overtones). Which is distinctly different than "string 'em up", which simply means to hang up with little to no fanfare at all.
That would be "hung" (the -up is assumed).
Charlie: 'They said you was hung!'
Bart: 'And they was right!'
See, this even fits into the discussion on fair use thread, because if you know this quote, you know I've used an assortment of one liners from an assortment of movies. Those are well within fair-use, because they're short - well short of the 10% criteria - and simply used as a common cultural reference for the time period.
And possibly condemned criminals.
That would be "hung" (the -up is assumed).
Actually, it's "hanged."
People are hanged; paintings are hung.
People are hanged; paintings are hung.
People (like numerous porn stars) are hung. But if you decide to hang one, they end up hanged whether they're hung or not.
hangar (n.)
1852, "shed for carriages," from French hangar "shed," which is of uncertain origin. Probably from hanghart (14c.), which is perhaps an alteration of Middle Dutch *ham-gaerd "enclosure near a house" [Barnhart, Watkins], from a Proto-Germanic compound *haimgardaz of the elements that make home (n.) and yard (n.1). Or French hanghart might be from Medieval Latin angarium "shed in which horses are shod" [Gamillscheg, Klein]. Sense of "covered shed for airplanes" first recorded in English 1902, from French use in that sense.
a hanger a place for storing airplanes
I thought they were for working on airplanes, and storing car collections?
Probably because everyone wanted to hang around and look at the plane being worked on, I guess? I'm not sure, there may be a better explanation. Never really thought about it.
Hanger verses hangar. Two entirely different things. The former has nothing to do with aircraft.
But why is a hanger a place for storing airplanes rather than a place for executing criminals?
And what about all those who are merely hangry?
Actually, it's "hanged."
People are hanged; paintings are hung.
Sorry, but my response never posted (I was probably working on my next response rather than hitting "Post"). Apparently, I was too hung-up on hangry hangar posts to consider the proper verb form. My bad, I'll try to rehang the unsung, unhung hanged individuals later.
You left out Hungary. Its capital is Budapest. Which is really two cities divided by the Danube River, one is Buda, the other is a Pest.
You left out Hungary. Its capital is Budapest. Which is really two cities divided by the Danube River, one is Buda, the other is a Pest.
Is Budda's pest and enlightened nuisance or an un-nuanced throw-back?
(Lots of hyphens there!)
And hang up is more than hanging up a telephone. You hang up clothes.
There are also technical hang-ups, logistical, environmental and legalistic hang-ups. As bk69 noted, it's a specific reference with no relation to either "hang" or "up", so gets hyphenated to differentiate it.
@bk69
And hang up is more than hanging up a telephone. You hang up clothes.
And artwork.
I have a hang-up about hanging up my clothes, so I painted an artistic statement about it, but now I'm hung-up of hanging that up as well!
by hyphenating it you make it what's called 'a compound noun' to show the two words stay together as a new noun. If it gets used as such often enough it will eventually drop the hyphen and be a single word as a plain noun.
Who would have guessed I'd read the following in a story?
"I'm sure she'll avoid a lot of hang-ups!" The implication that Jean was hung-up was clear in her voice.
Of course the second one shouldn't be hyphenated.
Well, I don't know how to transpose this to English, but here, in a land where you need warm clothing layers of with you likely take off inside about three fourths or of a year or so, it's not unusual to ask where those could be hung up if it's not immediately obvious or indicated (what would be expected courtesy, but may not happen). And the native language phrase very often used in casual speech is horrid, and actually incorrect language, but sorta convenient, "where can I hang?"
Compare "kur lūdzu es šeit varētu pakārt manas virsdrēbes?" (the fully formal: "sorry, where here I could hang up my outerwear?") with "kur var pakārties?" (literally: "where it's possible to hang oneself [to death]?").
It's not unusual *joke* to utter it in such a voice you momentarily wonder how likely they could be to do just that and return something along the lines, "nah, I'm horrible at disposing bodies. But that overcoat you can stuff in that closet." Most times however you just duly indicate where to drop that jacket.
(And yes, we actually have horrible suicide statistics.)
(And yes, we actually have horrible suicide statistics.)
with such terrible jokes, it's no wonder why! ;)
Probably for the same sort of reason that hyphenated is not spelled with a hyphen in it but non-hyphenated has a hyphen in it.
What, you were expecting the English language to make sense?
What, you were expecting the English language to make sense?
I wouldn't expect any human language to make sense. After all, humans are involved.