sling / slung / slung.
So inflected. As a past-tense form, "slang" is dialectal. As a past participle meaning "placed in a sling," "slinged" can be convenient, but it can also be startlingly ambiguous — e.g.: "Pediatric experts such as Dr. William Sears claim slinged babies are more alert." Sue Gleiter, "Baby on Board: Sling Allows Moms to Enjoy Hands-Off Freedom," Post-Standard (Syracuse), 9 Sept. 2007, at I4. Outside that limited sense, the nonword *"slinged" is an infrequent error — e.g.:
o "Now before you make the Irish-restaurant-is-an-oxymoron joke, Wilcox says his partner, Robert Lionette — who formerly slinged [read 'slung'] haute hash at the toney Oyster Bar in Oak Bluffs — is going to update some of the old recipes from Old Sod." Gayle Fee & Laura Raposa, "Inside Track," Boston Herald, 29 Apr. 1996, at 8.
o "But [Ramon] Ortiz slinged [read 'slung'] his way through eight innings and 92 pitches, holding the Yankees to that one run on seven hits." LaVelle E. Neal III, "Putting an End to the Party," Star Trib. (Minneapolis), 12 Apr. 2007, at C1.
o "Starting quarterback Anthony Morelli threw the game’s only interception and was sacked twice, but he said it was no big deal. 'I just went out and slinged [read 'slung'] it around a little bit,' he said." Bernard Fernandez, "Size Could Pay Off for Lions," Phil. Daily News, 23 Apr. 2007, Sports §, at 107.
Language-Change Index — (1) "slang" for "slung" as past tense of "sling": Stage 1; (2) *"slinged" for "slung" as a past tense of "sling": Stage 1.
*Invariably inferior forms.
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Quotation of the Day: "We might say that prose is prose because of what it includes while poetry is poetry because of what it leaves out." Marvin Bell, "Three Propositions: Hooey, Dewey, and Loony," in Writers on Writing 1, 2 (Robert Pack & Jay Parini eds., 1991).
