Having fought off the urge to throw the bloody thing through the window, do I say "My computer hung" or "My computer hanged" or "My computer had a hang" or "I had a computer hang"?

No doubt usage is in flux at the moment, but do other AWADers have any preference?

Bingley

It seems to me the expression emanates from "hung up" — as in a telephone. I think the expressions (1) "to leave hanging" as in "Joe Sixpack just left me hanging at the bar" and "to hang around" come from the same terminology (Ma Bell has left us with quite a few words). Hang variations all seem to show the same result of idle time. However, if you ask a teenager what he's doing and he's just hanging out it could mean that a) he's having a thrilling time at the amusement park, b) he's stoned and lounging in his bedroom, c) he's mowing the lawn, or whatever.

You probably have thought of all this.

I would say:

My computer crashed. (Ha!)

or maybe:

My computer froze [up (on me)].
My computer left me hanging.
My computer hung (on me).

or in your case:

My computer is trashed on the sidewalk below.

I think the crash event is like the word snow in Eskimo.

michaelo, with my $.02

.

Hi Bingley,
The expression is rarely used in the past tense, I think, because, once the computer no longer hangs, you want to forget it as quickly as possible, especially if you find that it was your fault...

.....and if describing a computer which had been particularly good at hanging, you wouldn't want to have to describe it as well hung.......

Uh oh! Looks like we're heading for the gutter again! :-)

>Uh oh! Looks like we're heading for the gutter again! :-)<

Jackie, are you sure you aren't jsut a tad hung up on that gutter????

...though now I think about it, creating a mental image of being hung up on a gutter is challenging to say the least!