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Hi everyone! Today I’m going to teach you what it means to leave someone hanging. I was watching a TV show where a teenage guy -let’s call him Jake -was on the phone with his friend, Paul. Jake was starting to tell Paul all about his romantic date with a girl named Melissa. But before Jake could finish, his parents called him away, so Jake told Paul he had to go. Paul said “Oh come on, man, don’t leave me hanging!”.
To leave someone hanging means to leave the person in suspense or in a state of curiosity, without providing all the information, or without a resolution. Paul wanted to hear all the details about Jake’s date with Melissa, but Jake ended the phone call before finishing the story -so Jake left Paul hanging, he allowed Paul to stay in a state of curiosity or wanting to know.
Another way you could use this phrase is, let’s say you contacted a company and asked for some information about their products. The company responded and sent the information, and then you asked a few follow-up questions -but the company never replied to those. You could say the company left you hanging because it stopped communicating and didn’t give you the information you wanted to know.
Has somebody ever left you hanging? Or have you done this to someone else? Try to think of an example of how you could use this phrase in your own life. Thanks for watching today’s phrase of the day video!