Sunday 6 August 2017

I see, a sword of Damocles hangs over your head

Today’s English
August 7th, 2017

All the following sentences are, of course, wrong. Can you say why?

1.He hanged the clock/picture/photo/calendar on the wall.
2.Her long hair hanged down to the ground.
3.When they caught him red-handed, he hanged his head in shame.

The verb form “hanged" is the past and past participle of hang and it must be used only in the sense of killing a person by tying a rope around the neck.  In all other senses of hanging, the verb form “hung" should be used for past and past participle.  So the sentences need to be corrected as follows:

1.He hung the clock/picture/photo/calendar on the wall.
2.Her long hair hung down to the ground.
3.When they caught him red-handed, he hung his head in shame.
4.They hanged him in public so that others wouldn’t commit such a rape in future.
5.He hanged himself last night. (=committed suicide)

Differences: hang on, hang on to and hang out
1.Hang on = wait
A.Hang on a minute please. My son is getting ready.
B.(Over phone) Hang on please.  Let me check whether he’s here.

2.Hang on to= keep and don’t sell
A.I have to hang on to this old watch that’s from my great grandfather.
B.Why do you still hang on to these old things?

3.Hang out = to spend a lot of time in a place, to dry your washed clothes
A.I was happy with my friends, hanging out the whole day at Brookefields.
B.Have you hung the washing out? / I hung out the washing just now.

If you feel that something bad is going to happen to a person, you can use the expression – “a sword of Damocles hangs over the head" .  (It actually comes from the story in which Damocles the courtier in the kingdom of  Syracuse had to eat his delicious food with a sword hanging above his head tied to a thin horsehair.  The king made such arrangement to make Damocles realise how people with power couldn’t enjoy the luxury gifted to them since they should be cautious of thousand and one things around them.)

A.He’s inviting troubles to himself. I see, a sword of Damocles hanging over his head.
B.All ministers nowadays have the Damocles hanging over their head.

If you want to buy something without worrying about the expense, you “hang the cost/expense".  If you admire someone, you listen to their words with full attention.  This is what “hang on somebody’s words" means.

A.It’s so beautiful. Let’s buy this and hang out the cost.
B.My wife used to hang on my words when we started the married life. Now she has muted me and hung on to the words of serial actresses.

“If my Valentine you won't be,
I'll hang myself on your Christmas tree.”
-Ernest Hemingway, “88 Poems”

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