Why do people pronounce "escape" as "excape?"?

Question

There's clearly no "x" in the word. Why do people always add it? Please don't make any racial or southern cracks. I was hoping for some semblance of a real answer here. :)

Answer 1

First of all, this pronunciation is clearly NOT based on the SPELLING of the written word -- it's based on how people HEAR, learn and adapt the SPOKEN language. In fact, that's how native speakers of a language first learn how to speak and pronounce most things (esp. words that are common in the language)

I know of two related explanations that might fit this case.

(1) This may simply be a case of "metathesis" --that is, the changing of the order of sounds in a language, often to make if easier to pronounce, sometimes to follow a sound-pattern that is already FAMILIAR from other words in the language.

In this case, the fact that there are MANY English words of Latin origin that begin with "ex" would explain why people apply the same pattern to this word. (More than that, it actually DID come from the Latin "ex"! See below)

Note that this is a very common and natural process in language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metathesis_(linguistics)

a) Sometimes the words that result become accepted, even THE accepted pronunciation.
Examples: Modern English words "bird", "third" and "horse" came from "brid", "thridde" (cf. "three") and "hros"... all by metathesis.
http://sps.k12.mo.us/khs/linguistics/lingtrms.htm#M

Also, "iron" is pronounced /i-urn/ (unlike "ironic" which is /i-rah-nik/) and "comfortable" which reverses the t & r (and may even lose the r-sound) in many dialects (/cumf-ter-bul/ and /cumf-tu-bul/)

b) Some of the changes are considered simple mistakes, veral slips and the like -- example: a child saying "pisghetti" instead of "spaghetti"

c) Another group is those considered mistaken OR 'nonstandard' -- example: "aks"/"ax" for "ask" and probably also "excape" for "escape" (pronouncing "nuclear" as "nukyeler" may be another example... common in certain dialects)

BUT
(2) there is another interesting fact about "ask"/"aks" and perhaps it also relates to "excape". That is, at one time the opposite order was correct! or at least a standard option.

Thus in Middle English we find Chaucer using BOTH "aks" and "ask". Here is a lising of the word's history:

"Middle English asken, from Old English csian, scian"
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ask

So it turns out that dialects that use "aks" are NOT making a mistake with "ask", but preserving an OLDER form that is no longer considered standard.


As for "escape" -- the Latin word originally DID start with "ex", but we borrowed it through the French, which simplified it to "es".
"Middle English escapen, from Old North French escaper, from Vulgar Latin *excappre, to get out of one's cape, get away : Latin ex-, ex- + Medieval Latin cappa, cloak."
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/escape

So, is "excape" a remnant of the original? or was it at one points someone's attempt to restore the original Latin form? (such things have often happened in English) I have no clear evidence of this, though the fact that the very same dialects that use "aks" often include "excape" suggests something like that OR perhaps it's simply that the "ks" of "aks" contributes to the use of the "ex" pattern.

Answer 2

Excape

Answer 3

may be dyslexia. if you put the c before the s they you get the x sound. No one cared or took the time to correct them as a young speaker, and they heard thier parents pronounce it that way due to lack of edukashun so they say ax instead of ask, and excape instead of excape, accrosst instead of accross (no, accrossed is not a valid excuse as it is not an actual word) and warshed instead of washed.
A friend of mine who grew up in california says warshed & we constantly tease him...where is the "r" in washed?
He also uses double negatives....I never said nothing, oh, so you said somehting, not "nothing'"? He HATES it when I do that, and it is even funnier when my 9 & 10 yr olds correct him....LOL!

I think Oddball has the right reasons and explains it well. I agree and I blame it on government control, liberal values...village acceptence and making everyone feel good about themselves....STOP THE MADNESS!

Answer 4

For some it is due to teachers in schools not requiring the children to speak properly. In the 50's and 60's my teachers would constantly correct mispronounced words. If you persisted to do so, they would make you stay after school and write it on the blackboard (whatever number of times the teacher was in the mood for) and properly pronounce the word. Each mispronounciation would get a few more times added. Today the NEA (the main teachers union) does not allow teachers to do this. It also has to do with the NEA forcing the schools and teachers to teach or, at the very least, allow "Ebonics" (as poor pronounciation is now called, to make it appear as a legit form of english) to be used without correction. This is all part of the NEA agenda to Dumb down Americans. This is written policy of theirs and can be read at web sites like David Horowitz (who has been fighting the NEA for over 20 yrs.)

For other children it is due to their primary language being one other than english. Their languages do not have Vowel and Consant sounds like english and, therefore, they never learn to formulate the sounds. As they get older it becomes more difficult for them to do so. As more countries require the teaching of english in school, this is starting to disappear.

For others it is Parents and other family members that speak proorly and they learn this way of speaking from them. As mentioned in the above paragraph, this is never corrected in the schools. When I was a child, people (most you did not know or never met before) would correct children speaking poorly. But, thanks the Hippie movement that allowed Liberalism to run amok, you now see and hear the results.

Other children mispronounce words due to physical deformities in the mouth.

Answer 5

I put "excapists" in the same category as people who say "orientated" vs. oriented, though that one is an actual word. To me, they just don't seem well educated and generally don't care to be.

Answer 6

Ignorance.

Answer 7

because most people that are seniors in high school have a vocabulary of 6th grade and are mostly illiterate and will not have much of a future as far as a career. Its like ASK is pronounced AX - duh! Talking like a thug is not cool.

Answer 8

Dont know. Guess the same reason some people say axe for ask. m

Answer 9

Yep, they say expresso (mixing up espress with express) and exscape with exit, and they also say "axe" instead of "ask." A common pronunciation error.

Answer 10

My Social Studies teacher pronounces it "Excape," so obviously it's not if you're stupid -.-