Why do some people pronounce "ask" as "aks"?

Question

I mean how did this start and continue? it just defies all logic to me...is it because some people can't read???

Answer 1

I think 'aks' is said because of ignorance (not frequently), laziness (sometimes), or just for fun/slang (most of the time).

I would also like to know why people say 'nuke-q-ler' instead of new-cle-ar. It is spelled Nuclear, not Nu-cu-lar. Ignorance is the only explanation I have for that.

I think the same is true for saying 'pitchers' instead of 'pictures'

Answer 2

all popular languages evolve, they never stay the same. that is why science names all there species using an obsolete language such as latin. The French created an organization to keep a standard French language. The style of talk 40 years ago is easily distingishable from today's speaking. the word ask changes to aks due to the natural changing evolution of a language.

Answer 3

BEV (Black English Vernacular which uses aks instead of ask) is actually part of a specific dialogue of English. Asking people to stop saying that would be like asking Southern people to stop speaking with a drawl or English people to stop speaking with an English accent or Americans to stop speaking with an American accent or Austrialians . . . well, you get the picture. To be honest, I find it to be a positive thing, something which really helps us to identify with culture differences and to learn from each other.

Answer 4

Origin: bef. 900; ME asken, axen, OE āscian, āxian; c. OFris āskia, OS éscon, OHG eiscōn (G heischen), Skt icchati (he) seeks]


It is an archaic pronunciation of the word derived from one of it's root origins.

To the best of my knowledge it was used in colonial America and has lived on through slavery-era linguistics (here in The United States) passed on via concurrent generations (although this does not indicate it's usage to be confined to any one ethnicity).


To add some fuel to this fire: why do mid-Westerners (in the USA) pronounce wash as 'warsh'?

Or, why do people from Missouri pronounce their state as 'Missourah'?

Answer 5

it can be linked to dyslexia and people not being corrected when they say 'aks' as a child. i know a few people like that and they can't help it. on the other hand some people just think it's amusing to twist the letters in words to make them more interesting.

Answer 6

No, actually, until about 400 years ago, "aks" was the so called "correct" pronunciation! In Elizabethan era England, that WAS how you pronounced that word - it only changed relatively recently!

Today, many people with roots in the American South, including a number of African Americans, pronounce "ask" as "aks", due to the still surviving Elizabethan influence on the Southern regional and African American dialects of American English.

Some racist people have a problem with that - so they try and disguise their generalized irrational hatred of Black people by nitpicking about how some Black people who have thick southern accents pronounce certain words.

Answer 7

For some people it is easier for a k sound to roll off after an a sound. Almost like when people prounounce "saw" like "soll"

Answer 8

I don't understand why so many people do that.. It's so annoying! I guess they just don't care that they're making themselves look like idiots.

*Regardless of how quickly you speak, "aks/axe" is still incorrect. I speak very quickly, but I can still pronounce it correctly. It can be done.

Answer 9

its so much easier to pronounce as aks than ask, especially if u talk real fast.

Answer 10

That's generally something kids say because they tend to mis-interpret words or perceive them differently than an adult would and they are not corrected. It's the same principle as those people who say "Somethink" or "Nothink". Very very annoying.