Why do people say AKS instead of ASK?
EXPLANATION OF ENDING: ‘Asked’ is so often pronounced exactly like ‘assed’/‘arsed’ that the KZread automatic captioner can't tell them apart: it sometimes writes ‘asked’ when the speaker intended ‘assed’ or ‘arsed’! I could have made this clearer 🤷🏼♂️
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An exploration of the form 'aks' in various dialects, through history in and across the world.
0:00 Introduction
0:44 'Aks' in Old English
1:30 'Aks' in Middle English
1:57 'Aks' in the Bible
2:44 'Aks' in the Shetland Islands
3:44 'Aks' in Jamaica & MLE
5:28 'Aks' in the USA & AAVE
6:10 Stereotyping & prejudice
7:50 'Ask' pronounced as 'ass' & 'arse'!
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My mom studied English in college and one of the things she taught me growing up was that you should never look down on someone for the way they talk, due to complex grammatical and linguistic histories
@daveh4925
11 ай бұрын
Yes but if they attack in gangs its ok to hate bad people
@nuyt6
11 ай бұрын
@@daveh4925I agree those dirty english poppy munching nazis always attack in groups but alone they won't even look in your eyes
@Osc1llateW1ldly
11 ай бұрын
lemme ax you something
@Qexilber
11 ай бұрын
@@daveh4925 LOL! Oh I wanna see you argue over grammatical issues when attacked by a gang of people with poor english grammar. … Hey did I discover an interesting pun here? "Poor english grammar" is the opposite of "pure english grammar".
@sandersson2813
11 ай бұрын
Why not?
Here in India, my college teacher once spent a whole lecture talking about data structure and memory allocation where she spoke "hard disks" as "hard dikss" for at least a dozen times. My friends had some very good moments back then.
@BodyMusicification
Жыл бұрын
That reminds me of the time in my coding bootcamp a few of us were snickering while the lecturer was discussing database "sharding" and kept saying the word indistinguishable to us in its various forms: "sharting," "shart," "sharted," "sharts."
@MrC0MPUT3R
Жыл бұрын
I hear #&$@hub has petabytes worth of hard disks...
@rohitchaoji
Жыл бұрын
I've had teachers pronounced "and" like "aand" and "as" like "arse"
@rohitchaoji
Жыл бұрын
@@waldolemmer LMAO
@satyakisil9711
Жыл бұрын
@@rohitchaoji pronouncing schwa is very prominent in Indic languages, it is the default vowel in the abugida. Without it the whole language would break down. People usually prefer it when speaking English as well.
I'm embarrassed to say that I've judged people rather harshly for saying "aks" in the past with not a single thought for the shortcuts and technical mispronunciations in my own speech. It's a brilliant channel that challenges biases in good faith without putting anyone down.
@nasonguy
Жыл бұрын
Growth, my friend. You are doing it.
@adamlaceky8127
Жыл бұрын
We all have biases, and judge people by their speech. Even when you know that people in different places speak differently, you judge their intelligence by how they talk. I do it, too. I'm from the American South, but I still think Southern accents sound dumb. I know better. Still...
@DisgruntledPigumon
Жыл бұрын
The difference is standardized “mispronunciations” for the sake of brevity or clarity, versus ignorant mispronunciations. It still matters. I dislike these videos that try to lump everything into one category. AKS is definitely ignorant in all but the rarest historical cases.
@incognitotorpedo42
Жыл бұрын
If people want to say AKS, they should spell it that way. It's an ignorant mispronunciation otherwise. I'm not at all embarrassed to say that I judge people for such things. I don't like reading comments that require me to mentally translate there/their/they're into the proper meaning, either. You bet your sweet 'aks' I judge them.
@athsumerius6865
Жыл бұрын
@@DisgruntledPigumon how is it at all ignorant? It's widely used, and just as easily understood. Language changes with the people who speak it, as long as your meaning is understood, that's really all that matters
In South Africa I had an economics professor who constantly spoke about the importance of “data mining” or “data mine”. Towards the end of the semester I finally worked out that he was saying “determine” or “determining”. I thought he just really liked working with data… All my notes made a lot more sense once I understood this 😅
@riccapoo
Жыл бұрын
I had a South Asian math teacher in middle school. I had a hard time figuring out the accent. One monday, I left my math book at home as we started a new chapter. The teacher kept referring to "people" throughout the lesson and I was totally lost. When I got home and turned to the page for the homework I realized that the lesson was on percentages. And the teacher was NOT referring to "thirty-two PER-son" but "32%".
@mehmoremeh1410
Жыл бұрын
currently in university and had that problem for the last 2 years. I have to actually decipher the words what my lectureres are saying coz of the accent difference.
@anest-uk
11 ай бұрын
I had this with a french client. He would ask 'how do you data-mine the coefficients in the model?' and I would say things like 'no, no the model is not data-mined' (because data mining is pejorative in investment applications). Eventually we figured it out - he was not insulting us.
@GuinessOriginal
11 ай бұрын
That’s hilarious 😂 was he from Durban by any chance? The Afrikaans accent there is so strong
@armanahmadian4373
11 ай бұрын
I had friend who copied notes off the board. He would frequently copy the small sigma simbol down (\sigma) to later realize it was the digit 6!
As a Jamaican myself I believe that it’s mostly from old English. Most of our creole especially in the rural areas that didn’t get urbanized through media m. You’ll hear most of the old words, perfect example my younger sister that grew up on Disney was watching Bridgeton today and heard them say “ Make haste” and realize that it’s the same as the creole “mekase” that we use in the same context but is no longer a common part of speech bcuz it’s been replaced with simply “ hurry up”
@stephIstravel
Жыл бұрын
However you’ll find that a lot of Jamaicans (esp older folks) would use “mekase” rather than hurry up.
@jenjibur
11 ай бұрын
That's fascinating!
@thedativecase9733
11 ай бұрын
Yes quite correct. I made this point on here months ago and got precisely 0 upvotes but there we go.
@maxkho00
11 ай бұрын
Would the expected form not be mekies? Or is that how what you spell "mekase" is pronounced? Because if not, I think the two expressions might not be cognates.
@stephIstravel
11 ай бұрын
@@maxkho00 yea it’s just the spelling but the way u typed it would be the pronunciation
I had put "aks" into the "dialectic variation" category but I didn't realise it went *_that_* far back. The ending was hysterical, watching the auto captioner trying to make sense of "can't be arsed".
@David280GG
3 ай бұрын
I thought it was just koz it was easier to pronunce
Amazing! As a young man (24) growing up in the United States, I always associated "aks" with AAVE. I had no idea it had such a rich history! It's a bit sad that there is such a big stigma towards speakers who prefer "aks" and other similar "non-standard" forms of words, because that's simply how languages evolve! Great video Dr. Lindsey!
@PlannedObsolescence
Жыл бұрын
I've heard a Jamaican person use it.
@RobBCactive
Жыл бұрын
Is this a case of something that flips as aksed is easier to say? The drawback is it will be indistinguishable from axed. I think saying asterix is more common than asterisk because that requires more care. I presume that's not a common enough word to be dialectical variation.
@cockoffgewgle4993
Жыл бұрын
Yeah, Africans definitely took their pronunciation from Chaucer lmao.
@dianep1385
Жыл бұрын
@@cockoffgewgle4993 I've only hear African-Americans use that term.
@cockoffgewgle4993
Жыл бұрын
@@dianep1385 And English Africans now evidently. This video is woke nonsense. Everyone knows it's black speak. Any historical usage in England is a coincidence.
EXPLANATION OF ENDING: "Asked" is so often pronounced exactly like "assed"/"arsed" that KZread'S AUTO CAPTIONING can't tell them apart. So when people say "half assed" or "can't be arsed", it sometimes captions this as "asked". I should have made this clearer.
@davescibb
Жыл бұрын
I think you'll find its mainly black people say it and not people in general
@jonthibault5509
Жыл бұрын
Ummmmm... Nice try. The whole point of that section was to show how people pronounce "ask" in different ways.
@tudormiller887
Жыл бұрын
I've always wandered why this term is so prevalent among 'black' 'biracial' Asian, Arab and White living in urban areas of the UK, talking with a exaggerated blaccent.
@tudormiller887
Жыл бұрын
@@davescibb Not really. You'd be surprised how many white, Asian, Arab, Gypsy, Jewish people use the term in many urban areas across the UK.
@thefurrybastard1964
Жыл бұрын
To be honest, I always thought it was a deliberate affectation. Thanks for the info.
My grandmother was born in Lancashire in 1897 and lived in the county all her life. She always said ‘axe’ and it’s still very frequently heard there today. It’s a common feature of Lancashire dialect poems.
@DrGeoffLindsey
Жыл бұрын
Really, thanks! It seems like 'ax/aks' has been used as a non-standard form all over Britain, though it's declined drastically recently. If you know of a poem where it's used and have a moment, perhaps you could let me know? drgeofflindsey@gmail.com
@julianwild8556
Жыл бұрын
I was born and raised in Lancashire and never heard “aks” as “ask” my whole life there. Granted, I heard a lot of phrases that would really have my fellow Yanks scratching their heads in puzzlement. But, let’s face it; people should know better. There is English, and there are mistakes.
@GeoffRiley
Жыл бұрын
@@julianwild8556, it may depend upon which part of Lancashire you were brought up in. I was brought up in Bolton and never came across the use of ax/aks until I moved to the more diverse area of Warrington right down in the south of old Lancashire.
@TOBAPNW_
Жыл бұрын
@@julianwild8556 You are misinformed. English is pluricentric; it has several standards, and several dialects within those standards. An American spelling 'colour' as "color" or pronouncing 'car' with a hard 'r', is not making mistakes (as much as it may grate on commonwealth citizens such as myself); they're writing/speaking a standard form of North American English.
@NerdyRodent
Жыл бұрын
Never heard “ax” in Lancashire either, though a quick visit to London had many people ax-ing me questions!
I confess I had just assumed it was a modern affectation but it's really fascinating to see how fragments of old English persist and reappear in different contexts.
@Nakia11798
Жыл бұрын
It IS a modern affectation for some. I've definitely seen people switch from ask to aks bc they thought it sounded cool
@aj-2savage896
Жыл бұрын
@@Nakia11798 Yup.
@triarb5790
Жыл бұрын
@@Nakia11798 I've lived in Australia for 35 years and all that time I've heard it used, especially by bogans. Maybe Londoners picked it up from Neighbours or Home and Away!
@nonconsensualopinion
Жыл бұрын
Yeah, your average uneducated citizen isn't using it that way due to historical reasons. They're just so poorly educated they can't speak their native language correctly.
@just-a-fella3212
Жыл бұрын
Some white women say "aksed" because they think it makes them cute.
Fascinating. Many years ago, in a linguistics class the professor explained, for African Americans who use aks for ask, the pronunciation was from West Africa and it arrived during the slave trade. I had never heard that aks was in Chaucer or Old English. I hope it is included in the curriculum today.
What I love about your videos is the fundemental acceptance that language moves on and changes, a constant reflection of our thoughts rather than a "correct" form
@anonamatron
11 ай бұрын
AXing people questions is de-evolution, not moving on.
@chameleonedm
11 ай бұрын
@@anonamatron Yeah, you have no idea how language works
@anonamatron
11 ай бұрын
@@chameleonedm I know the majority of people who use it speak in a way based on lack of education (which was not their fault in previous generations) and ignorance.
@chameleonedm
11 ай бұрын
@@anonamatron Lol not even close, it's like you didn't even watch the video. You just seem to think that black = uneducated which is pretty abhorrent
@goodlookinouthomie1757
9 ай бұрын
"moves on and changes" You mean it degenerates.
"Mix" is another example of metathesis. The past participle of the Latin verb "miscere" is "mixtus." We still put the S before the C in "miscellaneous," but pretty much every variation on the original Latin infinitive is pronounced "mix."
@martinhawes5647
Жыл бұрын
I had never realised mix and miscellanious are from the same root
@alveolate
Жыл бұрын
examples of metathesis should be taught early on in english lessons so kids don't grow up with these biases. then again, it seems like english teachers themselves love to be nitpicky fools to begin with eh...
@yuvalne
Жыл бұрын
+
@pluieuwu
Жыл бұрын
funnily enough, ‘wasp’ is also a result of metathesis! in Old English there are attestations of both wæps and wæsp, and the -ps form persisted until EME as far as i can tell. what’s even more curious is that this seems to have happened to a lot of other Germanic languages (see Dutch wesp, German Wespe, etc) and even other IE languages (like Latin vespa). kinda funny how nowadays people think -sp is hard to pronounce whereas thousands of years ago -sp is the easier/more favored variant :p
@polyrhythmia
Жыл бұрын
Metathesis is an "intregal" part of language evolution.
The Chaucer example with both forms in the same sentence was fascinating
@plywoodcarjohnson5412
11 ай бұрын
There might be a difference even. Axe meaning ask a a question, while Ask means to desire.
This has been very educational! When hearing people say “aks” instead of “ask” it has annoyed me to the same level as when people say “pacifically” 😂 now that I have learned the history behind this, I can hopefully let go of this annoyance!
@r8chlletters
11 ай бұрын
Lazy and uneducated use of language (whether intentional or otherwise) is a detriment to everyone but particularly for the speaker. Please continue to be annoyed by people who fail to learn and enunciate correctly, our ability to understand one another depends on it!
@Khuon23
11 ай бұрын
@@r8chlletters you mean "enunciate"
@Roadent1241
11 ай бұрын
What about Ex-cape when saying Escape?
@nattymo7835
10 ай бұрын
Willful ignorance is like nails on a chalkboard.
@SarahC2
8 ай бұрын
Nah - it means someone doesn't read.... you'd say it "correctly" if you read "a.s.k." 1000 times!
I love your videos so much. I'm a native English speaker and yet every time I watch I learn not only completely new information, but new understanding into my native language.
Definitely a stigma in the US around axe/axed instead of ask/asked. As you said, strongly associated with black Americans and the idea of their speech being wrong or uneducated or something other.
@MurderMostFowl
Жыл бұрын
Yeah I am not buying this explanation of the origin… it may coincidentally be true but it’s nearly universally African Americans ( and the under educated at that ) that say this in America. To me it’s just a linguistic quirk that has managed to stay alive because of pockets of small populations that allow it to persist. Like regional nouns and verbs … ( my region in the Midwest annoyingly has people who say “red up the table” instead of “set the table” for example )
@lewjames6688
Жыл бұрын
The example of the scientist is wrong. He is not mispronouncing “half asked”. He is using the slang term “half assed”, which means un-prepared. American slang.
@marqetteliz
Жыл бұрын
@@lewjames6688 - he's showing a reverse example where the person is in fact saying assed and the text transcription is showing asked instead. No one thinks "half asked" is a thing.
@lewjames6688
Жыл бұрын
@@marqetteliz I'm not sure about that. He's a Brit and not an American, so his usage of American argot/slang might just be off the mark. At least if you aks me... LOL.
@joanhuffman2166
Жыл бұрын
I've read that this particular pronunciation came from Southwest England with slave owners first to Barbados and then with their younger sons to the deep South.
As a non-native speaker I’ve never noticed this phenomenon. I wouldn’t have even noticed it if you hadn’t slowed it down. Thank you for making our ears more attentive!
@SvobodovaEva
Жыл бұрын
I’ve only ever heard it from black americans and some black brits.
@belgianvanbeethoven
Жыл бұрын
@@SvobodovaEva There's definitely white American celebrities who do this too. I can't immediately think of a name though...
@johnny-yw8ob
Жыл бұрын
@@belgianvanbeethoven Joe Pesci comes to mind
@thecodewarrior7925
Жыл бұрын
@@SvobodovaEva I mostly notice it when I’m down visiting extended family in New Orleans. They’re white and they always use this pronunciation, though it’s a little bit less pronounced behind the southern drawl.
@itoibo4208
Жыл бұрын
I had not noticed that people say "assed".
In the US “Aks” is looked down on simply because it’s typically associated with AAVE speakers and African Americans. Thanks (or Thansk?) for sharing the history of the pronunciation. Fascinating.
@SarahC2
8 ай бұрын
And people that don't read - who would be asking some questions when they see "Aks" spelt... "Ask".......
@johng4093
Ай бұрын
@@SarahC2People who say it wrong also commonly misspell it as "axe".
Really appreciate this video. Helps to understand where the variations between different dialects come from and makes one question biases you have about people who utilize those dialects.
In the Chicagoland area, in the 1970s, I was talking with a woman who was cleaning our house. I summarized a radio report of a murdering husband by saying, “A man axed his wife”. She understood this through an AAVE filter, and responded, “What did he aks her?” Your explanation gives me a greater appreciation of the issues involved in my memory from 50 years ago.
@St0ckwell
11 ай бұрын
Horribly violent crime, axe is most commonly understood as ask, yep that's Chicago all right
@JayMStein
11 ай бұрын
@H. Fritz You need to learn that slavery means ownership of a person as property, presumably including forced labor and no pay. Slavery has absolutely no relation to the situation that I described.
@mbid12
11 ай бұрын
@H. Fritz the profession of housekeeping that provides many people with employment is in fact slavery?
@ShredCo
11 ай бұрын
Isn't it because they have 75 IQ?
@neilanyon4792
11 ай бұрын
@@HFritz-kp8ioSo I can employ someone to clean/detail inside my car, but if I pay someone the same (or probably better) hourly rate to clean my house then it's slavery? Grow up.
"a woman can't be arsed to leave a restaurant because she's breastfeeding a child" absolutely SENT me
@caterpillar5071
Жыл бұрын
But as a breastfeeding mum, also totally makes sense 😆 I may have finished my meal but I cannot be arsed to unlatch her and deal with her crying!! 😆
@DivineLightPaladin
Жыл бұрын
And where exactly should a child eat, the bathroom?! On the curb outside in the snow? In the car?
@Stettafire
Жыл бұрын
@@DivineLightPaladin Remember, making facicious comments weakens your argument. I agree that women should be able to breastfeed in public, but implying there is no choice is simply false. Formula exists and it's more then adequate.
@mattdowds8505
Жыл бұрын
@@Stettafire Mums can also express breast milk & bottle it, for future use, as a father, I've fed my son both breast milk & formula.
@treetzar1107
Жыл бұрын
It was a brilliant pun. The timing after the other examples was perfect.
Just found your channel and it is incredible! Such an impressive mixture of knowledge, editing skills and humor
Very well put and informative. I've heard the word pronounced both ways but never heard an in-depth explanation. By far this is the best explanation of the word's origin i've ever heard.
In a past job I had a Nigerian colleague who said "aks" and figured it was down to some influence from his native language/dialect. One of the computer programmes we used was referred to by the acronym "Wasp" which he pronounced "Waps", which I thought strengthened my theory. So to hear about the numerous other layers to it is fascinating! Edit for missing pertinent detail: the job was in South East London.
@vytah
Жыл бұрын
Fun fact: the word "wasp" was originally "waps". You can see it both in Middle English texts, and in other Germanic languages (wesp, Wespe, hvespe).
@masonm9823
Жыл бұрын
@@vytah How do these examples demonstrate the existence of “waps”?
@kaengurus.sind.genossen
Жыл бұрын
@@masonm9823 In southern German dialects, the word "wepsig" exists. It refers to (annoying) hyperactive behaviour, like you might associate with wasps. Also some of these dialects call a wasp ("Wespe" in Standard German) "Weps"
@tsurutom
Жыл бұрын
@@masonm9823 They don't seem to. However, in my native German dialect (Bavarian), the standard German 'Wespe' is in fact 'Weps'. It's always fascinating to see how dialects preserve forms which have been gone from the dominant version of a language for hundreds of years.
@vytah
Жыл бұрын
@@masonm9823 They don't, but for the sake of brevity I omitted that Middle English had all three of waspe, wasp and waps, and Proto-West-Germanic had wapsu.
If this has done nothing more than equip me with the words, 'It's in Chaucer and the first English Bibles,' then it is a great video. Knowing the roots and possible roots of the current usage gives me pause to think too, and so it is even better. Thank you.
@Theduckwebcomics
11 ай бұрын
It's in quite a different form there and seems unrelated to the modern "stomzy" version which really makes a feature of it. The older variant seems to just be a slight pronouciation change, while this modern style is a different word. It's really disingenuous to relate it back to those older sources.
@LilFeralGangrel
2 ай бұрын
@@Theduckwebcomics I find it infuriating that you wrote all of that just to show you didn't watch the video or at least pay attention to it. The audacity to cling to your bigotry when an expert on the English language so freely posted this educational material. Do you think you know better or are you just daft?
@johng4093
Ай бұрын
@@TheduckwebcomicsAgree, "disingenuous" is a good characterization of this.
I often wondered where the differences originated. Really enjoyed this, thank you Dr. Lindsey.
Something this video made me realize is that not only do I usually say "assed" when I speak, but if I try to put emphasis on the 'sk' to say "asked", I usually slip up and say "aksed" instead. That's really interesting to me.
I find these intertwinings between historical versions of words, native dialects and foreign accents fascinating. Here in Germany we also have lots of regional dialects and most people recognize that it would be silly to try and force local pronounciations onto each other. But it also shows the importance of a standardized written language in a united nation. I come from Hannover and I have the pleasure that our local dialect supplied most of what today is considered High German. Basically we already speak the "default" German as our native dialect, kind of comparable to how people learn Oxford English in school. But if a Bavarian was meeting up with a Frisian and both would speak their native dialect, they would barely be able to understand each other. So the most prevelant use of High German is as a bridge between different dialects. One reason more to consistently use it writing. Some Bavarian friends of mine use a written form of their dialect and I can barely understand what they are saying.
@saschabaer3327
Жыл бұрын
That’s actually not entirely accurate. The local dialect of Hannover used to be Low German (Plattdeutsch) but that dialect essentially died out and got more thoroughly replaced with Standard German than in some other areas. Standard German is literally eating up dialectal variation (enforcing Standard German in schools did a lot to kill off formerly thriving dialects, especially). -Sincerely, a disgruntled Swiss person who was forced to speak a foreign language daily for 12 years, writing in yet another foreign language
@equolizer
Жыл бұрын
@@saschabaer3327 Do you know why it was decided to teach High German in school when I assume the Swiss German dialects aren't that far away from each other and are mostly intellegible? I mean, I can understand it for Germany, because as the other guy said a Bavarian wouldn't understand a Frisian and High German is somewhere in the middle of both dialects, but for Switzerland that doesn't really make sense. Maybe it's to be able to understand Germans and Austrians for easier trading/business relations?
@HeresorLegacy
Жыл бұрын
@@saschabaer3327 Plattdeutsch is to my knowledge still further up north. Bremen, Wilhelmshafen, that area. We still have some non-High German dialect down here, but it got diluted at the mass migration after WW2. My grandpa from my mother's side is from Silesia, but the rest of the family is from around here. Table-Football is "Krökeln" for us and children are "Lüttje". But these remaining dialect artifacts are dying out.
@candyjaywee
Жыл бұрын
There's even boarisch wiki 😂
@simonvaughan6017
Жыл бұрын
@@candyjaywee I thought Boars spoke Afrikaans. Or maybe it's Pig Latin.
Haven't watched the video yet, but I sincerely hope it includes that clip from Futurama where Leela explains that in the year 3000, "Aks" is now the regular pronunciation of the word, correcting Fry's pronunciation of "Ask".
@notwithouttext
Жыл бұрын
unfortunately no. but it's great this video is posted not too long before /eksməs/
@jonthibault5509
Жыл бұрын
It's called Idiocracy.
@notwithouttext
Жыл бұрын
@@jonthibault5509 it's called weird language evolution
@nimravus01
Жыл бұрын
I was hoping for that clip as well. Sadly, a missed opportunity.
@johng4093
Ай бұрын
Its usage is actually dying out. People don't deliberately try to sound ignorant, it's only used by less educated people.
Fascinating! I never knew it had such a long history. It would be great to see a whole video on metathesis, with other examples.
This is a great little KZread channel. It’s so refreshing to hear academic scholarship escape the academy and communicate more widely. I bet your colleagues are both in awe and probably a little jealous. Not that it is likely to be considered a significant contribution to the field. If you were Stormzy maybe…
0:00 Introduction 0:44 'Aks' in Old English 1:30 'Aks' in Middle English 1:57 'Aks' in the Bible 2:44 'Aks' in the Shetland Islands 3:44 'Aks' in Jamaica & MLE 5:28 'Aks' in the USA & AAVE 6:10 Stereotyping & prejudice 7:50 'Ask' pronounced as 'ass' & 'arse'!
@vibaj16
Жыл бұрын
8:42 isn't he actually saying "assed"? "half-assed" is a common phrase.
@robertpearson5410
Жыл бұрын
Thanks! I has always wondered about that, didn't reaiize it was so complicated.
@robertcovell2787
Жыл бұрын
Axe and ye shall receive ... for he who axeth get choppeteth
@carlborg8023
Жыл бұрын
@@vibaj16 yes, most of those last examples were wrong.
@LightninLew
11 ай бұрын
@@carlborg8023some the examples at the end were just demonstrating how the captions interpreted "ass" or "arse" as "ask", rather than showing people pronouncing "ask" that way.
Thanks Dr Lindsey. Excellent explanation of aks. It reminded me of when I once lived in New Orleans. There was a popular song called, "They All Axed For You" by The Meters. The accent in New Orleans is quite unique.. non-rhotic, AAVE, Creole French. Locally, it's called the Yat accent, for "Where ya at?" (How are you?) It's all a glorious mess.
@DrGeoffLindsey
Жыл бұрын
Thanks! Is Yat used by different ethnicities?
@macademician
Жыл бұрын
@@DrGeoffLindsey “Yat” is itself an accent, typically by white New Orleanians but also by some Black speakers. It's sometimes been described as “Brooklyn on Valium”. My Aunt is a native “Yat” speaker (she's spent her life in New Orleans), but my father (her brother) and her other sister don't speak that dialect.
@roxieeyeleers4465
Жыл бұрын
Let the Good Times Roll! Laissez le bon temps rouler....spelling is wrong, I am sure. Louisiana is the only state where I heard older citizens still use Miss Diana, Miss Mary, etc. No "Ms. " allowed!!
@roxieeyeleers4465
Жыл бұрын
To me, it always sounded like y'at, not two separate syllables. Where y'at? I am fine!! And WHY do Americans now answer, "How are you?" with "I'm good." ???????????? Good girl, good friend, good student, a good adjective, but what happened to the adverb??
@thecodewarrior7925
Жыл бұрын
Yeah that’s the first thing I think of when I hear about this, my (white) extended family in New Orleans. I can still hear aunt Angel telling her kids that “I *AXED* you a question!” or “I *AXED* you to come down here!”
I've always wondered why "axe" was used in my area of southern America but now I know. It's a good reminder that there may be a good reason for something you don't understand. Thanks for the video.
After learning English language at A Level it has really opened my eyes to variations of english and how they come about. Still, i found this video really informative and entertaining!
It's funny, as a lifelong New Yorker, I've always associated "aks" with a Brooklyn or New Jersey dialect. I never imagined it would be common in the UK.
@PolynicesEteocles
Жыл бұрын
Very interesting. Back in the late 90s I took care of a white lady in her 60s who was from New York City and had what my colleagues and I in Seattle thought of as a thick "New York accent". She would say things like "can I AXE you a question?" and we thought it was funny.
@cockoffgewgle4993
Жыл бұрын
It isn't common in the UK at all. Well, not before we imported half of Africa.
@tsopmocful1958
Жыл бұрын
Not common in UK.
@cockoffgewgle4993
Жыл бұрын
@Atheos B. Sapien A Yank accusing someone of being racist. It must be a day that ends in "y".
@satansmascara9756
Жыл бұрын
@@cockoffgewgle4993 ok cockoff
As an East African, I first noticed this form of pronunciation while living in the US for a some years. It appeared most commonly among African Americans, which confused me. I had never heard this form at home, or during my senior school years in South Africa. I take it from your fascinating and most informative talk that this form must have entered North America from West African slave-trade English, perhaps copied from the oral traditions of the sailors and the gang bosses. This would explain why it isn't commonly heard in English-speaking Africa itself, only among the African diaspora. Interesting.
@trollnystan
Жыл бұрын
it could also have developed seperately. There is a Gullah language professor, Sunn m'Cheaux, who's on KZread who I think talks about it in one of his shorts if you're interested in that.
@Lena-cz6re
Жыл бұрын
Because it is a feature mainly in West Africa
@moremiaj4786
Жыл бұрын
Speak for East Africa alone perhaps, because in Nigeria and lots of West African countries they say aks not ask.
@KingofgraceSARA
11 ай бұрын
@@moremiaj4786 I've friends from Ghana who says, deks instead of desk. God English is Pristina even better than most Americans.
I will admit, when I was younger, I used to be an "ask" snob when I was younger, but I've definitely changed over the years and appreciate the explanation.
This video is a brilliant example of why we should judge people for the content of their speech, and not how it is pronounced. Wherever you grow up, the prevailing patterns of speech will inevitably sound 'normal' to you and any deviation noticeable, whilst it may be jarring or irritating to your ear it is not invalid, and ultimately just how human culture functions. As such it's not irrelevant but it is fundamentally insignificant compared to the messages we are conveying.
I have sincerely never been so intrigued by pronunciation history as I have once I started watching your educational videos. Thank you so much for your insight on why we say words the way we say them
I just refreshed the page and saw you hit 100k subscribers! Congratulations, you truly deserve it and more!
@DrGeoffLindsey
Жыл бұрын
Thanks so much, to you and all my viewers!
Very true about that bit with “asked”! I noticed awhile ago when helping a Japanese friend learn English that I always pronounce the past tense as /æst/, as /æskt/ is actually quite difficult to say
One common phenomenon in recent American English is pronunciation of FAFSA-the application for federal tuition assistance. No rich history here-the program was created only in 1992. But many Americans today pronounce it as “fasfa” instead of “fafsa.” (Less related but still interesting: the US health agency NIAID. Federal employees pronounce it as if it were spelled NAIAD.)
Content we didn’t know we needed. Thanks, Dr. Lindsey, for answering our half-asked questions
As a German, I've always associated aks with American Poc. Interesting to learn that it's also widespread in the UK and Ireland, but then again, I've never been to the Shetlands! 😺 (It's on my bucket list)
@winterwatson6811
Жыл бұрын
While common in AAVE, plenty of other american accents include aks as well :)
@LilyUnicorn
Жыл бұрын
It mostly is laziness. It just so happens that black american is very much lazy english. Not sure why they do it. Blacks in hispanic cultures, especially carribbean did the same thimg tp spanish, very lazy spanish..... As for other ethnic americans....never heard them say AKS
@hellbach8879
Жыл бұрын
@@LilyUnicorn did you even watch the video? What a stupid comment
@turnleftaticeland
Жыл бұрын
@@LilyUnicorn Did you watch the video?
@IvanSN
Жыл бұрын
@@LilyUnicorn you're a proper fool. watch the video you're commenting on before you go on a racist tirade.
This has bothered me for over 30 years, and I never thought of discovering where it came from. But now I know. Thank you!
I am so glad that I came across this. My daughter and I were having a conversation about this the a few days ago.
Thank you for this enlightening video. I must admit, I was one of those people who looked down on those who said aks instead of ask. I never knew it had linguistic origins beyond laziness. Thank you for opening my eyes and helping me to remember not to not look down on others, especially due to my own assumptions that I understand something even when I've done no research on it.
@anenglishmanplusamerican7107
Жыл бұрын
Though it is the old English word, the language, adapts. It changes and it evolves.
@micayahritchie7158
Жыл бұрын
Here's a rule of thumb. If you think people do a thing because they are lazy. They don't Speech isn't easy to change your brain is wired how it is. If you've ever tried learning a second language you know it's difficult but let me tell you what's more difficult is getting rid of pronunciation habits you made while you were learning. Learning a new accent and dialect to live your entire life in is possibly harder than learning another language in my opinion
@anenglishmanplusamerican7107
Жыл бұрын
@@micayahritchie7158 I agree.
6:59 -- in other words, he applied to be a news reader for the BBC, and when he was rejected, he swore to devote his life to the study of pronouncing things however you want
I'd love for you to make a video on London slang and its origins. It's something I've wondered about for a while now.
Sir, you're the best! You make everything so interesting !
This is such awesome content, and exactly why I love youtube, it's criminal that Geoff only has 100k subscribers. The final example was hilarious.
I have wondered about this all my adult life. What a relief to finally find out why. Thanks so much Geoff!
I've only just realised that I couldn't be arsed to acs why some said ask and some said acs, but I'm glad to know so thank you.
I appreciate this informative and thoughtful video!
Thank you for this. In New Zealand I have noticed more and more younger people saying "aks" recently. As a teacher I've always tried to get them to say "ask", not realising that it is, in fact, another correct form, albeit fairly rare here. I wonder where the influence comes from here, is it from television/movies/social media, or whether there is something about the Maori language/other Pasifika languages that has influenced in the same manner? Always good to learn new things.
@DrGeoffLindsey
Жыл бұрын
The more I look for 'aks', the more I find it. It seems to be (or to have been) everywhere! Is it a feature of Maori English?
@nathangriffiths6218
Жыл бұрын
This is almost certainly due to the influence of US media, in particular US hip hop culture, on young people in NZ. Recent surveys have shown many young New Zealanders watch little or no media content originating from NZ and have also documented a rise in children starting schools with detectable American accents due to the predominantly US media they have been exposed to from an early age.
@longuevalnz
Жыл бұрын
@@DrGeoffLindsey further research might be needed but my impression is that it’s been a feature of (young person’s) Māori English for a very long time, predating the hip hop influences
@goombacraft
Жыл бұрын
@@nathangriffiths6218 How certain are you? As this video shows, it doesn't have to be from America. This feature isn't particularily prevalent in mainstream US media, as the pronounciation /aks/ is generally restricted to AAVE, which most Americans don't speak, as stated in the video. It's probably not a good idea to jump straight to a "US bad" -type argument when other arguments are plausible or even favourable. Metathesis is apparently quite common in NZE (Godzone dictionary, Max Cryer) and it's certainly not a rare feature cross-linguistically. Maori doesn't allow consonants syllable-finally and "aks" respects sonority hierarchy better than "ask", which plausibly is/was easier for native Maori speakers to pronounce.
@redbeard3946
Жыл бұрын
A few of my Maori friends growing up would say (and sometimes even spell) "aks".
This channel is excellent at giving us answers to questions we didn't aks.
One thing I love with Futurama is they captured this long-running battle between ask and aks by showing that in the year 3000 aks is once again the dominant form.
Correction to up-loader. 08:40 He said "half-assed to research labs" and it's not taken from half-asked.' An ADZE is a woodworking tool that has been used for thousands of years. It is used to “finish” the surface of timber. So if you ordered a product from timber that was only finished on one side properly, as in the visible side, it was done half-adzed. Full adze would be both sides. Typically one side was not immediately visible , so you could get away with only finishing one side of the timber or "half-adzed". Only when the buyers of said timber recieved it home they would discover the job was done "half-assed" or half-adzed" Today of course half-assed means generally anything that was done half-hearted or in a lazy incomplete way. Funny enough an Adze does resemble a type of Axe. half-adze when pronounced correctly sounds like half-assed
Thank you so much for such a profound review on that interesting variation, never knew it goes way back into centuries.
Thank you for the fact-based, non-judgmental, non-racist, non-any-ist explanation. I must say I have judged the pronunciation in the past and will never do so again.
@sebastienh1100
Жыл бұрын
Laits speek and rite wizout judjing
@kingcrimson4133
Жыл бұрын
@@sebastienh1100 The rules of language are only useful insofar as they facilitate communication between people. Don't tell me you have ever been confused about someone's use of the pronounciation "axe" in place of "ask". Think about it. You know precisely what they mean when they say axe, so the communication was successful. You're just upset that they don't follow what you perceive to be "The Rules" of language, which, as a matter of fact, don't exist in such a rigid and inflexible state save for within your own mind.
@sebastienh1100
Жыл бұрын
@@kingcrimson4133 - yes, culture, tradition, custom, heritage, love of the language of great authors are “purely in my mind”. 🤣🤣🤣
@kingcrimson4133
Жыл бұрын
@@sebastienh1100 How hypocritical that you claim to love language while uselessly railing against the natural process which lead to the beautiful variety of language we know today. You don't actually love any of those things, you just hate change for hatred's sake.
@sebastienh1100
Жыл бұрын
@@kingcrimson4133 - you, then, love change for the sake of change, which is the stupidest way of looking at life and civilization (except when you are a teenager under hormonal pressure)
This was informative; I learned something. Thank you!
As a Shetlander who was randomly recommended this video I absolutely did not expect to see Shetland mentioned! Very impressed. I've always thought it's funny/bizarre how we Shetlanders share this verbal trait with (predominantly) black people of both sides of the Atlantic.
Cool to know the history of this. I always associated "aks" with AAVE, but it's cool to know it's more widespread. Thanks for another great video!
This reminded me of something from childhood I had forgotten about: pronouncing the word "iron" like it is spelled ("i-run") and being corrected by friends ("no, it's i-earn or i-yearn"). I didn't believe them, but was surprised to find that the first dictionary I checked agreed with them. American standard English transposes those sounds so consistently that it was given as correct. I'd love to know if that's specifically American or if it's more generally true.
@DrGeoffLindsey
Жыл бұрын
It's the same in BrE except that we don't pronounce the 'r' at all! So in BrE 'iron' rhymes with 'lion'!
@KJ-td5gt
Жыл бұрын
@@DrGeoffLindsey So what if you're talking about an iron ion?
@sarar4901
Жыл бұрын
@@DrGeoffLindsey Huh! That's so interesting. I suppose people find it easier to pronounce. Goes to show that "can't you read a few letters correctly" is a bit nonsense, though.
@alastairsoave1646
Жыл бұрын
@@KJ-td5gt in my south-east English accent this would be pronounced I-yearn I-yon, but lion is more of a lye-uhn if that makes sense? I love watching Dr Lindsey’s videos because it gives me so much to think about every-time hahaha Now on a day to day basis I notice things that I’m “mispronouncing” and get into discussions with my girlfriend about different pronunciations we grew up with which then leads onto the people we know that pronounce one way or the other! Edit: as I say “yearn” and “y-uhn” out loud it seems near identical. In my head they seem different but in actuality they’re the same.
@lewiscarroll4290
Жыл бұрын
@@KJ-td5gt Most accents I have heard in the UK pronounce the o in lion (and iron) as schwa (like in Jason), and the o in ion as o (like in icon). I have heard people pronounce ion the same as iron, but as you pointed out, that would get confusing if you need to tak about iron ions. Everyone I have heard speaking in a chemistry context has pronounced them differently, avoiding this problem.
So high quality and high information content these videos!
I just always figured it was a bit of a tongue twister for some people. Finding this channel has been such an eye opener.
As an American I've always associated using "axed" for "asked" as black speech. Another one is to say "t" wherever "d" is written. It is so closely associated with black speech that people who were trying "redline" a black person from renting their apartments would also listen for the dead giveaway of "I need two betrooms" over the phone and once heard, there suddenly were none available. I wish Dr. Lindsey would do a video on this one.
@Chyronn
Жыл бұрын
I can distinguish people from their speech patterns
@satiric_
Жыл бұрын
Reminds me how in WWII, the word "lollapalooza" was used by American soldiers as a shibboleth to make sure they weren't talking to Japanese spies (who would often pronounce the L's more like R's).
@singabouteverything
Жыл бұрын
That is so horrible. The mere linguistics of someone being exploited in such a way is just. Evil. What is wrong with speaking this way? It sounds so much more proper!!! It is not a lesser form of dialect. I think what is lesser in this scenario is the judgment of another person based upon their skin color.
@monkaeyes3417
Жыл бұрын
@@singabouteverything Round of applause for this person everybody, who reminded us all that racism is bad...
@singabouteverything
Жыл бұрын
@@monkaeyes3417 thank you I'll be here all week. Seeing as racism still exists and is socially acceptable to date I'll be reminding everyone that it's bad until the heat death of the universe.
I’ve always thought this pronunciation “curious” but had never realised it had such a long and venerable (Bede, Chaucer and Tyndale) history.
Superb video as usual! That ending was brilliantly funny as well 😂
i'd love to see you make more videos about the cultural and political exploration that linguists do!
This was interesting. But to me, the most fascinating moment was the final screen, where Geoff Lindsey wrote "Click here to subscribe" in IPA characters representing his dialect of English, which is quite distinct from my own-General American with some Northeasternisms. That moment brought home to me the difficulty or impossibility of devising a common phonetic orthography for English. The varieties of English have drifted so far apart that the only orthography that can unite them is one that is not phonetic. Of course, the example of ask/ax and the range of vowels used with each variant demonstrates that too.
@marcusaureliusf
Жыл бұрын
IMHO, English spelling is hard not because of the variety of accents and diverging pronunciations; it's hard because standard spelling and standard pronunciation don't match. It's as if in 300 years pronunciation changed back to "aks" but we kept spelling "ask" while indicating the standard pronunciation as /æks/.
I know this is a sensitive topic for some. You covered it so well, Dr Lindsey. Awesome as always 👌
Aks drives me bonkers! But I appreciate the non-biased info about where it came from. I will remind myself of this the next time I hear someone say it. I also appreicate the reminder that I say "ass" or "assed", which sounds worse when I really think about it. 🤦♀️
Fascinating. I've always wondered about this. 👍
I've been meaning to ask for a video on this one. I've worked in rural areas of eastern Australia, and aks is extremely prevalent to the point that you can distinguish the locals (all who say aks) from the 'blow-ins'(who typically come from other regions). This might be a case of the theory of British/Scots/Irish influence, as historically, there has been a significant prevalence of missionary workers in the region and limited African influence.
@Palimbacchius
Жыл бұрын
An interesting study (?by Labov) showed that in the face of 'blow-ins', locals (the study centred on Martha's Vineyard) may exaggerate features of their dialect to distinguish themselves from the interlopers.
@tsopmocful1958
Жыл бұрын
I'm an Aussie who has lived in rural eastern Australia for decades, and I have NEVER heard any locals say 'aks'.
@nicolecarter1072
Жыл бұрын
I'm an aussie from rural NSW. I say "arksed". I never noticed it until my friend from Adelaide constantly pointed it out that people from my area at uni all said "arksed".
@triarb5790
Жыл бұрын
@@tsopmocful1958 Not sure where you've been but it's very common in Victoria .
@babyboomerinc
Жыл бұрын
I live in rural South Australia and my friend since childhood (and all her family) says aks(ed) and I picked up on it and told her and she never realised that she said it!
Very interesting topic. I become aware of this variety when I was studying different varieties of English and found a video of a teacher being praised for "teaching" Black people how to "properly" pronounce the word.
Thank you for the profound explaination. I was just thinking everytime I heard it that it was some kind of dyslexia and today I woke up more curious and looked for it. Thanks again!
I always wondered about this, thanks for that.
THANK YOU. As a person who English is a second language for, it always drove me nuts that people read "ask" as "aks", but at least now I understand where it comes from. The bit at the end also definitely gave me some perspective hahaha
@choreomaniac
Жыл бұрын
Aks drives me crazy but I now understand that ass might be a bigger faux pas.
@KingofgraceSARA
11 ай бұрын
ESL- Why are you annoyed, at all?
Fantastic 😊 I've studied phonetics of English and love this content. I have heard 'aks' used in northeastern US but as you pointed out only among my black friends. I've wondered about this history, so thanks for the lesson!
@oneofthosepeople2101
Жыл бұрын
None of these people speak this way know why they did, or do. They speak this way because they have not been taught the correct way. Humans speak so others understand, so being clear with your words has evolved over the centuries. Axe means something completely different to ask. That is all. It’s similar to names. People say my name means this or that when it just means “hey you”. But that doesn’t work with 7 billion people so your Jerry. The mental backflips 😅
@G_Demolished
Жыл бұрын
@@oneofthosepeople2101 You need to justify your assumption that language is prescriptive.
@oneofthosepeople2101
Жыл бұрын
@@G_Demolished 😁
@oneofthosepeople2101
Жыл бұрын
@@G_Demolished I have to admit, you got me, that’s the best troll I’ve read. ✌️
@doctornova3015
10 ай бұрын
@@oneofthosepeople2101Fortunately, then, I understood what you meant when you wrote " You're " Jerry .
This provides a lot of context to something I've wondered for a while. I figured it must go back some way given how many people, especially in the USA, say aks.
Finally, a well educated, well spoken person explaining the etymology without prejudice.
My grandmother, of Italian descent, born in the USA in 1911, used the pronunciation "AXE" instead of ask. She also said "HAKE" instead of hate. As long as I understand what a person is saying, that all that matters to me.
@tantona9315
Жыл бұрын
'Hake' - I take it she loved her seafood!
@jrcimini
Жыл бұрын
@@tantona9315 I did help her prepare and deep fry smelts. 🙂
@jonthibault5509
Жыл бұрын
She was obviously an uneducated moron.
@jeanlawson9133
Жыл бұрын
Bottom line...
@tantona9315
Жыл бұрын
@@jrcimini 😂
Many thanks for this, Geoff! In my part of the world, it is common for people to say 'graps' instead of 'grasp', and I felt a little bit annoyed when it came from the pulpit! But we've all done the same thing for 'brid' and 'waps', haven't we?
Fascinating! I didn't know about the old/middle English origin.
Interesting video! I do pronounce 'ask' in the same way. I don't know why since I'm an immigrant from a country where English is taught and spoken and moved to a country where English is one of the official languages. I learned standard English. I speak standard English. My degree is very much related to English too. There are still a few words that I pronounce "incorrectly". My best guess for why *I* do it isn't because it's easier per se, I think it's because of my tongue. I think one of my native languages likely makes certain pronunciations harder. Very few words, but my tongue defaults to what is easier. It's easier because my tongue makes it so not because I particularly want to go the short route when I speak. I like speaking standard English, I think it's fun and adds flavour in the same way other variations of English do. Maybe one day I'll know the true answer for sure. The people who think they are better than others for speaking standard English couldn't imagine how many ways they butcher words because their tongue also goes to what is easier. Disgusting the ways people want to put others down.
When I was working in the hospitals in downtown, Kingston, Jamaica, depending on where the patients were from, or the coworkers,AKS was common but so was DEKS “Haks at de deks” and I heard children using words like moksito. I am not a native English speakers. I never had issues with it, and I enjoyed all the different ways of speaking I encountered there, pronunciation, and grammar wise.
@thehoneyeffect
10 ай бұрын
🇯🇲🔥🇯🇲🔥🇯🇲🔥🇯🇲🔥 I had to
Thank you very much! It's something I have been asking (acsing?) myself for a while!
Stunning! Loved the outro section :-)
Whilst the majority of this video was interesting (historical context), I found the final 2 minutes most enlightening, and most challenging. I actually searched for this video (in a way) whilst curious about why I keep hearing ‘aks’ in general language, often from black people. I was genuinely curious about why I hear it so often and have the same naive queries as illustrated (and answered) in this clip. Interestingly I was left with an overwhelming answer to my query: why do you even care? Followed by the revaluation that I actually do it myself, but just with a different word ‘ass’…. I say that often in mid-sentence. Why is that any different??? I will now retreat into my box and contemplate a little deeper. Thank you for producing this video. It’s answered a lot - but in a different way than I expected. 👍
This is so interesting and enlightening! I have started to notice people saying what sounds like generally when I think they mean genuinely and preformance instead of performance. I wondered if it was because the words were learnt through hearing rather than text. Another curiosity is saying progidy instead of prodigy. It is also interesting to hear a carry over pronunciation of tear (regardless of meaning) even in second-generation West Indians. It's so exciting to understand the history of aks!! Thank you!
@trueriver1950
Жыл бұрын
Toddlers do this a lot. They pick up all the sounds from a new word but reproduce them in a different order. My favourite was "fire ennij" for fire engine when my oldest was growing up. I suspect that aks has been re-introduced by toddlers as often as inherited from its historic roots
@SeekerGoldstone
Жыл бұрын
Do you maybe mean "progeny"?
@sirilucksana
Жыл бұрын
@@SeekerGoldstone In context I think progeny would not be the right word. When I've heard people say "progidy" it would only make sense if they were trying to use the word "prodigy"😄
It's been my experience that the more snobbish someone is about language, the more incorrect they likely are.
@kingcrimson4133
Жыл бұрын
Agreed. To be snobby and prescriptive about peoples' use of language is to dedicate yourself in opposition to the quite natural and harmless force of linguistic evolution. It's like finding a stream in the woods and dedicating yourself to halting its flow, simply because you have a strong (yet incorrect) conviction that water ought to always be still.
@randomnotes
Жыл бұрын
@@kingcrimson4133 Excellent analogy.
@Alex_Fahey
Жыл бұрын
@kingcrimson413 You'll find that a creature known as a beaver does exactly that as it is an entirely natural and extremely beneficial act.
Thank you for this video. I hear several different accents within my state of Massachusetts . I for one enjoy listening to the differences and we all make fun of ourselves and eachother. If you get the drift then your communicating. Thats all that counts. I use words from my ggma that everyone hets a kick out of. We all add to eachothers vocabulary. I feel like i speak a few different versions of english. Im from Dorchester : i can sound like a gangster. I speak business english for work. I speak to oeople who speak jamacian creole. I speak to hip hop speakers. I speak to spanish english speakers . It is so much fun to learn other peoples dialect within my own state!
6:40 I think I'm more or less on the same page as this lady. English isn't my first language, but it drives me nuts when I hear people say "aks". I also think my perception of speech and association with dialects makes it far too easy for me to perceive people differently based on the way they talk. I know that is not a good thing, so I'm glad you pointed this out on the end part there, because I need that reminder.
I’m so blown away by what I’ve learned in this video. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
One thing that I, as a white American, only really "got" relatively recently, is that the "aks" pronounciation, along with the usage of AAVE more generally, is frequently a conscious choice. Many black Americans are fully capable of pronouncing "ask" and speaking (for lack of a better term) "white" English, and in fact will regularly code switch between the two, depending on context and circumstances.
epytemology is always so fascinating. It reveals how unbenign so many words are. We just use these things so causally but we always forget that each word has a life of it's own and could be thousands of years old.
Very interesting! Thank you for this video!