Axe vs Ask

[Sulaco]

So many holier than thou people here. Oh look, I said thou.

You could compare this to moral compass and peoples values that have changed over time as well. Things change. Maybe it's not a good change, and maybe the majority at the time do not find it to be a benefit to society, but then your parents didn't think so either when you started dancing your white boy asses to gangster rap in the 90's. Now look, we have a (semi) black president. Didn't we used to think slaves and women were beneath everyone too? <----- jump? I don't think so. Thinking less of anyone because of what they do, say, act is simply being judgmental of someone simply based on YOUR beliefs of what is right or wrong. Let's face it, the majority is not always in the right.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, no skin off my butt if they wanna use da slang.

You're trying too hard.

It's a butchering of a three letter word. This is not some abstracted foreign word or barely used archaic formality.

It really doesn't get much easier than this in the English language phonetically.

Stop defending and accepting idiocy because "times change lol".

 

[ImpulsE69]

I'm not "trying". It's fact. There are things (from speech to conduct) we consider to be acceptable right now that would have been looked down upon as little as 50 years ago. Again, our language is "slang" of other languages some of which is derived from mispronounciations. Ask the British about butchering the Queens English.

Sure, you can point out one word, but it's really a much larger issue than that. I'm not really defending either. I can't say I've ever heard anyone say "axe" instead of "ask" in a serious manner...however I have a really tough time with busghetti.

 

[Broheim]

Language evolves. How many of you still use Thou and Thee in normal conversations? Proper grammar nazis always make me laugh.

Our "proper" language is a mish mash of many languages and has been improper for 1000's of years. Just go with it fogies. Correcting people just makes you look like an ass.

Ah tOtalleee AgrEe Dat We'S $houldd Nawt Care WUtt OL''' niGgAss tYnk ABouT DA Wa We's $PeaK,, dISheRE iSn't $hakEsPeArE,,,,, BB AH RiGH''

 

[bryanl]

"Axe" is only used by morons who think "Ebonics" is a valid language form.

Ray Romano says "Axe," as did the Plymouth Pilgrims. Neither has spoken ebonics.

 

[Mixolydian]

Seems to be common with people from the Northeast. Something to do with their accent.

 

[CZroe]

no, it wasn't.

this is an education problem. ask is the correct word. The uneducated say axe.

http://www.photoethnography.com/blog/archives/2008/03/ask-vs-aks-ax.html

 

[feralkid]

And so, my fellow Americans: axe not what your country can do for you, axe what you can do for your country.

Yeah, definitely interchangeable!

If you knew anything about Old English, you'd know it would be "axeth".

Fun fact: it's how the original American Colonists likely pronounced it (Aks).


Here's more:

http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12074/why-is-ask-sometimes-pronounced-aks




.

 

[SNC]

I love it when places like NPR and other left leaning groups reference the bible to back up an opinion then agree with but any other time, its a book of made up garbage.

 

[xeemzor]

It is not OK and I will judge people as stupid if they use it.

 

[Majcric]

I rarely hear AX and ASK misused.

But Idea and ideal all the time.

 

[Fingolfin269]

If you knew anything about Old English, you'd know it would be "axeth".

Fun fact: it's how the original American Colonists likely pronounced it (Aks).


Here's more:

http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/12074/why-is-ask-sometimes-pronounced-aks




.

Awesome. I admit I know little about Old English (unless you're referring to the Malt Beverage!). I do know I would likely laugh if someone used the word 'axeth' today in pretty much any setting.

 

[Markbnj]

It has been passed-on culturally. In its origin, "aks" was every bit as common / correct as "ask."

Originally, class divisions separated the usage. Both versions of the word have existed simultaneously as far back as we can tell and usage of both forms has never died off completely.

So saying "ax" / "aks" / "ask" is not wrong at all.

That's interesting. I never knew this. From a post on the English group on stackexchange:

As the [Oxford English Dictionary] explains, the verb form spelled "ax", and meaning "To call upon any one for information, or an answer", originated more than a thousand years ago in OE. ("Old English")[.]
[...]
The crucial bit [is] this:

Acsian, axian, survived in ax, down to nearly 1600 the regular literary form, and still used everywhere in midl. and south. dialects, though supplanted in standard English by ask, originally the northern form.

I don't know whether it was actually passed down culturally, or is an example of more modern metathesis. Someone better versed in the history of its use among current cultures would have to answer that. But anyway, I learned something today, so now I can go back to playing games.

 

[OutHouse]

Some people end every sentence with "...you know what i am saying?"

high school dropouts.

 

[Red Squirrel]

When talking normally "ask" can sound kind of like axe, so I think some people just actually say axe as a joke. I see people on use axe sometimes but it's always in a jokingly matter.


An elderly woman had just returned to her home from an evening of church services when she was startled by an intruder. She caught the man in the act of robbing her home of its valuables and yelled, "Stop! Acts 2:38!"

(Repent and be baptized, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven.)

The burglar stopped in his tracks. The woman calmly called the police and explained what she had done. As the officer cuffed the man to take him in, he asked the burglar, "Why did you just stand there? All the old lady did was yell a scripture to you." "Scripture?" replied the burglar. "She said she had an axe and two 38's!

 

[edro]

y'all raciss

 

[ImpulsE69]

y'all raciss

Get out of here with your superior abbreviated sentences

 

[mistercrabby]

NPR says it's okay, Chaucer did it.


Personally it makes me cringe a little when I hear it. Kind of like the word ain't.

Me too.

pesketti.
nukular.
exscape.
excetera.

it's not ebonics or hillbilly exactly... it's simply poor diction. there are regional or ethnic variations, which i can understand. however, those are still mispronunciations. i don't make fun of little kids when they can't quite get there yet any more than i would someone for whom English is a second language, but it doesn't make it correct.

 

[mistercrabby]

Oh, and poor diction does not become erudite just because someone pronounced it wrong 500 years ago and some egghead dropped it in the OED.

 

[edro]

erudite

wtf does that mean?

Did you just go to thesaurus.com to find another word for "common"?

 

[Ichinisan]

Oh, and poor diction does not become erudite just because someone pronounced it wrong 500 years ago and some egghead dropped it in the OED.

Well, that's exactly what happened with "ask." A king hundreds of years ago started to prefer that pronunciation, then other politicians and upper-class folks did it to conform (there was no edict). Peasants and rural folks kept using the original "aks" and usage never went away completely.

 

[nickbits]

I hear ax, I assume you're stupid.

 

[SAWYER]

 

[HomerJS]

"Axe" is only used by morons who think "Ebonics" is a valid language form.

Really? You mean like dropping "G"s from words or using nu-cu-ler instead of nuclear?

So what do you call those people??

 

[beach2nd]

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

PSA for liberals: Everyone that finds "axe" an unacceptable form of "ask" is now a racist.