Linda in Blountville, Tennessee, wonders why many old-timers in her area pronounce the word ask to sound like aks with the S and K switched, sounding like the word “axe.” The pronunciation “axe” for ask has nothing to do with intelligence. In Old English, the verb meaning “to ask” was ascian. Later for centuries in both Old and Middle English two verbs for “ask,” ascian and acsian, existed side by side, the latter the result of what linguists call metathesis, or the swapping of nearby sounds. They evolved into the “ask” and “axe” pronunciations, and when inhabitants of the British Isles emigrated to the United States, they brought those pronunciations along with them. Thanks in part to the geographic isolation of Appalachia, the “axe” pronunciation persisted and still reflects the migration patterns of Scots and Irish settlers. This is part of a complete episode.
What makes a great first line of a book? How do the best authors put together an initial sentence that draws you in and makes you want to read more? We’re talking about the openings of such novels as George Orwell’s 1984...
To slip someone a mickey means to doctor a drink and give it to an unwitting recipient. The phrase goes back to Mickey Finn of the Lone Star Saloon in Chicago, who in the late 19th century was notorious for drugging certain customers and relieving...
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