Most gruesome form of execution, hanging or beheading

From a fellow English major. You made me think of I think Tarrytown at a HODS panel, where LP kept talking about Angelique being HUNG, and the tag team of Karlen and Selby kept ragging her about Hanged, hung and well hung.....

Being an English major myself this also drives me batty!     Another thing that makes me insane is when ppl say things like "We couldn't have did this" or "He shouldn't have drove" etc...  I mean, they HAVE to know that doesn't even SOUND correct, right? 

She repeats the mistake in her piece on Salem for the Bloopers & Treasures DVD; therefore, I consider it part of the bloopers and not part of the treasures.

LOL!  Indeed!  And isn't SHE an English major?  Or got her MA in English?  Sheesh!  

LOL!  Indeed!  And isn't SHE an English major?  Or got her MA in English?  Sheesh!  

She has an MA in Creative Writing.

Emphasis on the creative part, perhaps? 

Personally, even if LP hadn't kept talking about Angelique being "hung" as a witch instead of "hanged" as a witch, I would still count that segment as one of the "bloopers" of that DVD, and NOT the treasures. Because when I watched it at the fest last year, it was incrediably boring and was one of the few times I actually got up and left during a program. Let's hope she doesn't attempt to start a talk show to fill up the afternoon time NBC will have in the next few years.

LOL!  Indeed!  And isn't SHE an English major?  Or got her MA in English?  Sheesh!  

She has an MA in Creative Writing.

Well, in fairness to her, there's a common misconception that an English degree at any level includes some sort of formal grammar training. It usually doesn't. That's supposed to be taught prior to college (hence the term "grammar school"). The grammar that is covered in college is usually handled in freshman composition courses as a review based on common errors in student papers. There are optional grammar courses that students can take, but they don't count toward the major, and most students take them for enrichment purposes, not because they are passionate about past participles.

most students take them for enrichment purposes, not because they are passionate about past participles.

I was considering majoring in past participles but was so disappointed when I couldn't find even one college that offered even one course in it! 

 

I was considering majoring in past participles but was so disappointed when I couldn't find even one college that offered even one course in it!

I think that has to do with fear over lawsuits should students take to dangling their participles in class. 

I was considering majoring in past participles but was so disappointed when I couldn't find even one college that offered even one course in it! 

 

I'm a gerund man, myself.  Hey, waitaminnut!  wasn't he on the series - Gerund Stiles???  Did he get hanged?  Or beheaded?

I'm a gerund man, myself.  Hey, waitaminnut!  wasn't he on the series - Gerund Stiles???  Did he get hanged?  Or beheaded?

Gerund, eh? [spoiler]Well, it was neither HangING nor BeheadING. It was a shootING![/spoiler]

Gerund, eh? [spoiler]Well, it was neither HangING nor BeheadING. It was a shootING![/spoiler]

[spoiler][/spoiler]
Or shouldn't that be:     THE TROUT

or maybe THE LARCH    

I think that has to do with fear over lawsuits should students take to dangling their participles in class. 

Thank you, MsCriseyde, for my Laugh-Out-Loud of the day.  I don't even mind the tea all over my keyboard......

More fun with the Tudor times!

In 1541, Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, refused to lay her head on the chopping block and had to be chased around tower green by the executioner who hacked her to death. She was 71 at the time.

James, Duke of Monmouth, paid the executioner six guineas to do the job correctly, as he had heard that Jack, the executioner had taken 4-5 blows to dispatch his Lord Russell. Jack was so nervous that the first strike only grazed the back of the Duke's head. The Duke actually turned to glare at his executioner. Two more blows did not sever the Duke's head and Jack offered 40 guineas to anyone in the crowd who could do better. The sherrif of Middlesex told Jack that he would have him killed if he didn't finish the job. After two more blows with the axe failed, Jack had to pull his knife and finish the job.

John Bartendale, a traveling minstrel, was convicted of felony and hanged for an hour until people thought he was dead. A passerby later on noticed earth moving where he had been buried and dug him up. Apparently he sat up upon being revived and asked where he was!

John Bartendale, a traveling minstrel, was convicted of felony and hanged for an hour until people thought he was dead. A passerby later on noticed earth moving where he had been buried and dug him up. Apparently he sat up upon being revived and asked where he was!

Don't stop there!   John was retried and this time acquitted.  The former minstrel subsequently found a career as an ostler (stable hand).  This was in 1643, which is a little odd because I would have thought provisions under English common law would have prevented retrial for the same offense.

This was in 1643, which is a little odd because I would have thought provisions under English common law would have prevented retrial for the same offense.

I thought that was weird myself when I read it, but am not familiar with English law of the period.

I've read some stories like the one Arashi cites but don't know how common they are.  The profession of executioner, at least in northeastern France where I've investigated it, required a high degree of performance, and the executioner was accountable to the duke, by whom he was appointed.  On occasion, a potential executioner was deemed unsuitable.  Successful methodology called upon scientific thinking as well as intimate knowledge of anatomy, such as was possessed only by one other profession, that of physician.  I don't think it's a coincidence that many descendants of executioners today are in science and engineering professions.

-Vlad

I don't think it's a coincidence that many descendants of executioners today are in science and engineering professions.

Where on Earth did you find statistics indicating that the descendants of executioners are more likely to be scientists and engineers?  I would LOVE to see that source!!!