Hanging Around

A Word of Many Meanings Hang is a simple little word. But the world has hung many meanings on it. That’s one of them: to attach or suspend one thing on another. Like clothes on a hanger a picture on a hook or a hat on a rack. To “hang your hat” somewhere means to settle or take up residence in a place: “I hangmyhatin Boro Park.” But hang makes itself at home in lots of places. In baseball: to “hang a curveball” is to pitch it poorly so that it fails to curve. Many home runs have been hit off hanging curves. In computer science: “Thepowersurgecausedmycomputertohang soIhadtorebootit.”