Axe You a Question

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Ellen Robinson calling from Indianapolis.

Hiya, Ellen.

Hello, Ellen.

Hello.

What are you thinking about today in terms of language?

Well, I have a question about a very short and simple little word, the word ask.

I had begun to notice, oh, I don’t know when, but years ago, that there was an alternative pronunciation, and it was X, like it was spelled A-K-S.

Mm—

Predominantly among African Americans that I heard this pronunciation.

Mm—

And then I thought, well, gee, I wonder where that started and how long, you know, where and when it started.

What a good question.

So let’s just review. We’re talking about the word A-S-K as in ask a question, right?

Yes.

And you are sometimes hearing it pronounced as if it was spelled A-X-E, X.

Yes.

All right.

What would you say if I told you that this particular pronunciation dates back at least 600 years?

I would be amazed.

You, in fact, in fact, Ellen, you can find Chaucer spelling it in the late 1300s A-X-E.

Really?

And the reason he spelled it that way is because at the time, it was one of the standard pronunciations of the word.

Huh.

How about that?

And so what’s interesting, over the last 600 plus years, this has ebbed and flowed.

A lot of people have reverted back to the pronunciation of A-S-K.

I mean, it never went out of fashion. It’s not as if Axe was always the one that people were using.

But that particular pronunciation of X became kind of relegated to certain dialects and certain groups, and it continued to survive.

Plus, it tends to reoccur because that K sound and the S sound next to each other set up the perfect conditions for metathesis, which we’ve discussed on this show before.

We swap the pronunciations of two consonants sometimes in certain kinds of words.

Bird, for example, used to be brid, B-R-I-D.

Yeah, and dirt used to be drit.

And they stuck.

However, ask has fluctuated back and forth.

So fast forward a number of years, and today in the United States, as you say, you’ll find this pronunciation acts among black Americans, but you’ll also find it in the speech of white Americans, particularly if they’re from the South or rural parts of the United States, because this is where that particular pronunciation has held its ground and continues to exist.

Now, and I want to reiterate here, and I just know that I’m going to get some people who are going to argue with me on this.

It is not necessarily an incorrect pronunciation.

I know that it’s looked down on today.

I know that it is.

And I know that in a formal situation, you should probably avoid it.

But I also know that there are many well-educated white and black people in the country who say this because that’s the way they learned it from their whole community.

Not just from one or two people, but everyone they know says it that way.

It is a standard part of their dialect.

But Grant, how would they spell it?

They were still going to spell it A-S-K.

Interesting.

But English isn’t, as you both well know, right, Ellen?

English doesn’t necessarily spell words the way they’re pronounced.

Yeah, right.

So why not? Why couldn’t ask be pronounced X?

-huh.

I know it seems contrary to your expectations.

I know that it does.

But the record is really clear.

This is actually one of those areas where there’s no mystery about the pronunciation X.

We know why it’s here, who says it, how long it’s been said, and where it comes from.

Well, Ellen, you raised a terrific question, 600 years.

Well, I certainly got an answer I didn’t expect, so I’m certainly glad I asked it.

Well, Ellen, I want to thank you for asking this question.

I hope it didn’t hurt.

Not at all.

All right.

Bye-bye, Ellen.

Thank you so much for calling.

Thanks, Ellen.

Thank you.

All right.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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