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Chris -- 2018-04-11
“Hanging one’s head in shame†is an idiom based on a potent image. Persons in states of extreme abasement are often unable to lift their heads to look questioners in the eye. Johnny Cash made use of this vivid picture in his famous ballad “I hung my head†(Hear Johnny sing it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anzcexEXtzg .).
On the car radio last week I heard someone say “I hung my hat in shame.†It took me a second or two to clue to the shifted image. The new idiom doesn’t entirely fail, I thought to myself. Perhaps the shamed person clutches his hat in balled fists while looking at the ground. When we approach an authority for a favor, we come, it is said, hat in hand.
But the voice from the radio said “I hung my hat†not “I clutched my hat.†Hanging hats are found on hat stands or pegs, not in hands. And the place where we metaphorically hang our hats, our home base, doesn’t usually map to images of shame.
So I’m puzzled. “Hang my hat in shame†might be some kind of ultrablended idiom. But it could also be described as an eggcorn–“hat†and “head†have similar sounds and they reference the same part of the human anatomy. If “hat†is an eggcorn, though, it isn’t a good one. It replaces a time-tested image with one that has confused semantics. If we wanted to associate the hats with shame, there are other ways we could do it. A quick search of the web turns up “hide under a hat in shame†and “eat one’s hat in shame.â€
The radio voice has company. Here are four examples of “hang one’s hat in shame†from the web:
Forum comment on a football team: “I hang my hat in shame... oh how, oh how could my piggies have disappointed me so?â€
Comment on a QA computer forum: “Wow, much nicer. This is where I hang up my hat in shame. This allows you to set a default for individual links/programs, but is there a way to set a universal default?â€
Post on a political forum: “Today I hang my American hat in shame.â€
Description of a YouTube video on macarena dancing: “yes we know thath most of you are hanging your hats in shame right now.â€
The web appears to have about ten unique examples of “hang one’s hat in shame.â€
Last edited by kem (2009-07-19 00:45:30)
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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Kem, your second example set off my idiom-detector, revealing one you missed:
I hung up my hat as a hip advertising strategist hawking pop culture to teenagers, packed my bags and began a three and a half year journey to tackle the ..
or
So I hung up my hat. And I handed in my badge. There’ll be a showdown, but I won’t be there. If there is a shootout, it will be to thin air …
Usually it refers to leaving employment, often for a well-deserved retirement, but works well for giving up in disgust or shame too, leading to the inevitable idiom-collision.
(I enjoyed the song – JC’s version is suitably simpler and bleaker than Sting’s original.)
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Another good idiom to throw into the blend, Peter. I can’t draw lines that connect all of these idioms, but my gut tells “eat my hat,” “hang my head in shame,” “hang up my hat,” “hang my hat, and “hat in hand” have somehow primed “hang my hat in shame.”
An idiom detector. Gotta get one of those.
Over here the JC version of “I hung my head” has totally eclipsed Sting’s original, for which I offer the British people my sincere apologies. We hang our hats in shame.
Last edited by kem (2009-07-19 12:25:14)
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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