Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
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A hangar is an enclosure for storing aircraft, and it’s likely that many mistaken uses of “hanger” in that context are simple misspellings. But, do you suppose that persons refering to those enclosures as airplane hangers ever envision airplanes hanging on hooks inside? (Perhaps the way they do in airplane museums). If that’s the case, then the imagery would suggest not just a mere malapropism, but an eggcorn.
So far, my Google searches have turned up nothing when I pair “airplane hanger” with phrases like “airplanes hang.” I would also suggest that if someone could provide the etymology of hangar it might shed some light on the whether this word has any connection with “hang.”
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Sorry, Jorkel—the OED etymology for hangar is about the most unhelpful one that I’ve ever seen:
[Fr.; ulterior origin uncertain: see Du Cange, Diez, Littré.]
They’re pretty certain it’s from French, but they’re uncertain about the origin of the French word. Since “to hang” is a good native Anglo-Saxon term, the connection is probably unlikely.
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For what it’s worth, my visual imagery was just as jorkel says. Until today, I didn’t know it was spelled hangar. Oh well, it won’t be the last time and it does give me a good laugh at myself! The resolution in my mind was that the airplane was stored in the hanger like clothes are stored in a closet. A closet for airplanes. I never pursued the vague imagery I had in my mind of the planes actually hanging from something. I know that they don’t, except that I told myself that perhaps, at some previous time they actually did(maybe in the bi-plane era). It’s funny that more time has to be spent on how things got mixed up than how to correct it!
Last edited by booboo (2007-05-06 15:49:24)
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I know my kids thought planes were literally hung inside the airplane “hanger.” I had to explain that it was spelled differently, and bcs we were in the car when they asked me how they lifted the airplanes up to the hooks (since planes are so heavy), I had to say that I had no idea why we called it a “hangar’; probably it was French.
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For what it’s worth, I think it’s an eggcorn; in fact, it was one of my first postings in the old ‘comments’ section.
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I went and scared up Ken’s old post (and then smooshed it—or, for our UK readers, condensed it):
#90 Commentary by Ken Lakritz , 2005/03/04 at 1:48 am
‘hanger’ for ‘hangar.’ You store your clothing on a hanger; why not your airplane too? See,
… The advantage of owning these airplane hanger building systems is the low cost … Whether
you need a low cost single aircraft hanger for your plane, or an …
www.metal-steel-buildings…
If you want to see Ken’s post in its native habitat, go here and scroll down: http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/?page_id=7&cp=9
That’ll also put you near the beginning of the old commentaries pages we’ve been talking about—you can page through them from there.
Last edited by patschwieterman (2007-06-22 16:52:58)
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