Metaphor Police

[ed goldberg]

Hi,
I know I'm fighting a rear-guard action, and that I open myself to charges of being an uptight fussbudget, but the continuing destruction of the English language is depressing.
I have my own quirks. I refuse to use "whom," and pray for its speedy demise from the lexicon. I squirm every time I hear "you and I" when "you and me" is correct. A man is hanged when executed. If a man is hung, it means something else, no?
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
But, today, I heard a howler of a mixed metaphor on NPR. Even speaking extemporaneously is no excuse for this:
"It won't catch fire in a way that will allow it to snowball."
Um, that doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of being correct.
Any examples out there for our delectation?

[Sue Dawson]

My sixth grade teacher, my sophomore English teacher, and my major professor in college
would be in complete agreement. Knowing that language is always in a state of flux, I still cringe at some of the changes. It is straange, however, that I learned more about my lively English language by studying a dead one, Latin.

Kudos to all those fine teachers of my school days!

[I. J. Parker]

Fair enough!

[Sue Dawson]

Same goes for me even if I cannot type worth a darn! Too many years teaching in high school, I guess.

[len howlett]

Ed, I came late to this discussion, but I agree wholeheartedly with the hanged/hung distinction. I have actually read and heard people in the media use the term 'hung' for the pastense of execution. I have always remembered that pictures are hung and people are hanged, and it has always rankled me to hear the misuse of the term. I have been well hung up about it all my life.
Len

[Neil White]

What is the origin of the phrase "hung up", because is there an argument that it should be "hanged up"?

[len howlett]

I read or heard somewhere that it originated with a psychotherapist in California using it to describe some problem in an individual's development that hindered further self actualization, it became part of the sales jargon for the head checkers, and finally part of the lexicon for the general population. Thus, if it is a psychological snag, it is not an entire human, and should be phrased as 'hung up.' Not that I want to be one of those people who give too much time to semantics. Such hung up people should be.....well,....