shang

When you shanghai someone, you are essentially dragging them into a situation against their will. It implies a sense of trickery or overwhelming pressure that leaves the person feeling like they have no choice but to comply.

Think of it like being talked into a volunteer project you never signed up for. While the word has dark, historical roots involving actual kidnapping, today it is mostly used in a figurative sense to describe being manipulated into an unwanted commitment.

The term shanghai comes from the 19th-century practice of kidnapping men to serve as crew members on ships bound for the port of Shanghai, China. Because the journey was long and dangerous, captains often struggled to find willing sailors.

To solve this, they would hire 'crimps' to drug, beat, or trick unsuspecting victims into signing contracts while unconscious. By the time the victims woke up, they were already at sea, effectively shanghaied into service.

You will mostly hear this word in casual or semi-formal settings when complaining about being pressured. It is a transitive verb, meaning it always takes an object (the person being forced).

Commonly, you might say, "I was shanghaied into helping with the fundraiser." It is rarely used in strictly academic writing, but it adds a colorful, dramatic flair to everyday storytelling.

While 'shanghai' is often used as a standalone verb, it frequently appears in phrases like shanghaied into service, implying an unwanted duty. Another common expression is to be shanghaied by a friend, which highlights the betrayal of trust. It is also used in the phrase shanghaied into a meeting, indicating a surprise or forced attendance.

As a verb, the past tense is shanghaied and the present participle is shanghaiing. It is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable: shang-HIGH.

It rhymes with words like apply, deny, and supply. Grammatically, it is almost always followed by the preposition into when describing the task the person was forced to perform.