Why do people say AKS instead of ASK?

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Dr Geoff Lindsey

Dr Geoff Lindsey

Күн бұрын

EXPLANATION OF ENDING: ‘Asked’ is so often pronounced exactly like ‘assed’/‘arsed’ that the KZfaq 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'!
More on Shaetlan:
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/ iheardee
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• The Knight's Tale, Par...
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• Geoffrey Chaucer - The...
Up-Helly-Aa photos by Mike Pennington
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...
Jamaican New Testament
soundcloud.com/biblesociety/b...
Stormzy photo by Raph_PH
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Peter Serafinowicz sketch
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Пікірлер: 4 600
@jeanlobrot
@jeanlobrot 11 ай бұрын
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
@daveh4925 11 ай бұрын
Yes but if they attack in gangs its ok to hate bad people
@nuyt6
@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
@Osc1llateW1ldly 11 ай бұрын
lemme ax you something
@Qexilber
@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
@sandersson2813 11 ай бұрын
Why not?
@satyakisil9711
@satyakisil9711 Жыл бұрын
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
@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
@MrC0MPUT3R Жыл бұрын
I hear #&$@hub has petabytes worth of hard disks...
@rohitchaoji
@rohitchaoji Жыл бұрын
I've had teachers pronounced "and" like "aand" and "as" like "arse"
@rohitchaoji
@rohitchaoji Жыл бұрын
@@waldolemmer LMAO
@satyakisil9711
@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.
@BigBadBalrog
@BigBadBalrog Жыл бұрын
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
@nasonguy Жыл бұрын
Growth, my friend. You are doing it.
@adamlaceky8127
@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
@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
@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
@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
@stuartslyper1479
@stuartslyper1479 Жыл бұрын
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
@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
@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
@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
@GuinessOriginal 11 ай бұрын
That’s hilarious 😂 was he from Durban by any chance? The Afrikaans accent there is so strong
@armanahmadian4373
@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!
@wolf1066
@wolf1066 Жыл бұрын
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
@David280GG 4 ай бұрын
I thought it was just koz it was easier to pronunce
@stephIstravel
@stephIstravel Жыл бұрын
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
@stephIstravel Жыл бұрын
However you’ll find that a lot of Jamaicans (esp older folks) would use “mekase” rather than hurry up.
@jenjibur
@jenjibur Жыл бұрын
That's fascinating!
@thedativecase9733
@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
@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
@stephIstravel 11 ай бұрын
@@maxkho00 yea it’s just the spelling but the way u typed it would be the pronunciation
@moxmox8058
@moxmox8058 Жыл бұрын
The Chaucer example with both forms in the same sentence was fascinating
@plywoodcarjohnson5412
@plywoodcarjohnson5412 11 ай бұрын
There might be a difference even. Axe meaning ask a a question, while Ask means to desire.
@DrGeoffLindsey
@DrGeoffLindsey Жыл бұрын
EXPLANATION OF ENDING: "Asked" is so often pronounced exactly like "assed"/"arsed" that KZfaq'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
@davescibb Жыл бұрын
I think you'll find its mainly black people say it and not people in general
@jonthibault5509
@jonthibault5509 Жыл бұрын
Ummmmm... Nice try. The whole point of that section was to show how people pronounce "ask" in different ways.
@tudormiller887
@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
@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
@thefurrybastard1964 Жыл бұрын
To be honest, I always thought it was a deliberate affectation. Thanks for the info.
@yoku651
@yoku651 Жыл бұрын
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
@PlannedObsolescence Жыл бұрын
I've heard a Jamaican person use it.
@RobBCactive
@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
@cockoffgewgle4993 Жыл бұрын
Yeah, Africans definitely took their pronunciation from Chaucer lmao.
@dianep1385
@dianep1385 Жыл бұрын
@@cockoffgewgle4993 I've only hear African-Americans use that term.
@cockoffgewgle4993
@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.
@moonloversheila8238
@moonloversheila8238 Жыл бұрын
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
@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
@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
@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_
@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
@NerdyRodent Жыл бұрын
Never heard “ax” in Lancashire either, though a quick visit to London had many people ax-ing me questions!
@fronts3165
@fronts3165 11 ай бұрын
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.
@chameleonedm
@chameleonedm 11 ай бұрын
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
@anonamatron 11 ай бұрын
AXing people questions is de-evolution, not moving on.
@chameleonedm
@chameleonedm 11 ай бұрын
@@anonamatron Yeah, you have no idea how language works
@anonamatron
@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
@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
@goodlookinouthomie1757 10 ай бұрын
"moves on and changes" You mean it degenerates.
@adamlaceky8127
@adamlaceky8127 Жыл бұрын
"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
@martinhawes5647 Жыл бұрын
I had never realised mix and miscellanious are from the same root
@alveolate
@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
@yuvalne Жыл бұрын
+
@pluieuwu
@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
@polyrhythmia Жыл бұрын
Metathesis is an "intregal" part of language evolution.
@nathangriffiths6218
@nathangriffiths6218 Жыл бұрын
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
@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
@aj-2savage896 Жыл бұрын
@@Nakia11798 Yup.
@triarb5790
@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
@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
@just-a-fella3212 Жыл бұрын
Some white women say "aksed" because they think it makes them cute.
@willesloco
@willesloco 11 ай бұрын
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
@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
@Khuon23 11 ай бұрын
​@@r8chlletters you mean "enunciate"
@Roadent1241
@Roadent1241 11 ай бұрын
What about Ex-cape when saying Escape?
@nattymo7835
@nattymo7835 11 ай бұрын
Willful ignorance is like nails on a chalkboard.
@SarahC2
@SarahC2 9 ай бұрын
Nah - it means someone doesn't read.... you'd say it "correctly" if you read "a.s.k." 1000 times!
@incaseofamnesia6380
@incaseofamnesia6380 Жыл бұрын
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.
@taylorizedfunster
@taylorizedfunster Жыл бұрын
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
@SvobodovaEva Жыл бұрын
I’ve only ever heard it from black americans and some black brits.
@belgianvanbeethoven
@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
@johnny-yw8ob Жыл бұрын
@@belgianvanbeethoven Joe Pesci comes to mind
@thecodewarrior7925
@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
@itoibo4208 Жыл бұрын
I had not noticed that people say "assed".
@QuantumJump451
@QuantumJump451 Жыл бұрын
"a woman can't be arsed to leave a restaurant because she's breastfeeding a child" absolutely SENT me
@caterpillar5071
@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
@DivineLightPaladin Жыл бұрын
And where exactly should a child eat, the bathroom?! On the curb outside in the snow? In the car?
@Stettafire
@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
@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
@treetzar1107 Жыл бұрын
It was a brilliant pun. The timing after the other examples was perfect.
@mrsparkle9048
@mrsparkle9048 11 ай бұрын
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.
@fizzed87
@fizzed87 Жыл бұрын
Just found your channel and it is incredible! Such an impressive mixture of knowledge, editing skills and humor
@marqetteliz
@marqetteliz Жыл бұрын
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
@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
@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
@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
@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
@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.
@JayMStein
@JayMStein Жыл бұрын
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
@St0ckwell 11 ай бұрын
Horribly violent crime, axe is most commonly understood as ask, yep that's Chicago all right
@JayMStein
@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
@mbid12 11 ай бұрын
@H. Fritz the profession of housekeeping that provides many people with employment is in fact slavery?
@ShredCo
@ShredCo 11 ай бұрын
Isn't it because they have 75 IQ?
@neilanyon4792
@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.
@crystalz.williams7226
@crystalz.williams7226 Жыл бұрын
I often wondered where the differences originated. Really enjoyed this, thank you Dr. Lindsey.
@ajedi1034
@ajedi1034 11 ай бұрын
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.
@hunterst.arnold6646
@hunterst.arnold6646 Жыл бұрын
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
@notwithouttext Жыл бұрын
unfortunately no. but it's great this video is posted not too long before /eksməs/
@jonthibault5509
@jonthibault5509 Жыл бұрын
It's called Idiocracy.
@notwithouttext
@notwithouttext Жыл бұрын
@@jonthibault5509 it's called weird language evolution
@nimravus01
@nimravus01 Жыл бұрын
I was hoping for that clip as well. Sadly, a missed opportunity.
@johng4093
@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.
@PedroConejo1939
@PedroConejo1939 Жыл бұрын
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
@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
@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
@johng4093 Ай бұрын
​@@TheduckwebcomicsAgree, "disingenuous" is a good characterization of this.
@UnDark1
@UnDark1 11 ай бұрын
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
@SarahC2 9 ай бұрын
And people that don't read - who would be asking some questions when they see "Aks" spelt... "Ask".......
@johng4093
@johng4093 Ай бұрын
​@@SarahC2People who say it wrong also commonly misspell it as "axe".
@artugert
@artugert 11 ай бұрын
Fascinating! I never knew it had such a long history. It would be great to see a whole video on metathesis, with other examples.
@jackworrall89
@jackworrall89 Жыл бұрын
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
@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
@masonm9823 Жыл бұрын
@@vytah How do these examples demonstrate the existence of “waps”?
@kaengurus.sind.genossen
@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
@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
@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.
@DrGeoffLindsey
@DrGeoffLindsey Жыл бұрын
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
@vibaj16 Жыл бұрын
8:42 isn't he actually saying "assed"? "half-assed" is a common phrase.
@robertpearson5410
@robertpearson5410 Жыл бұрын
Thanks! I has always wondered about that, didn't reaiize it was so complicated.
@robertcovell2787
@robertcovell2787 Жыл бұрын
Axe and ye shall receive ... for he who axeth get choppeteth
@carlborg8023
@carlborg8023 Жыл бұрын
@@vibaj16 yes, most of those last examples were wrong.
@LightninLew
@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.
@rachelmcdonough1506
@rachelmcdonough1506 11 ай бұрын
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.
@BAYBAY_316
@BAYBAY_316 11 ай бұрын
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.
@HeresorLegacy
@HeresorLegacy Жыл бұрын
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
@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
@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
@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
@candyjaywee Жыл бұрын
There's even boarisch wiki 😂
@simonvaughan6017
@simonvaughan6017 Жыл бұрын
@@candyjaywee I thought Boars spoke Afrikaans. Or maybe it's Pig Latin.
@CuCuKM
@CuCuKM Жыл бұрын
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
@kiakamgar
@kiakamgar Жыл бұрын
This has bothered me for over 30 years, and I never thought of discovering where it came from. But now I know. Thank you!
@jontalbot1
@jontalbot1 10 ай бұрын
This is a great little KZfaq 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…
@bobbuethe1477
@bobbuethe1477 Жыл бұрын
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
@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
@cockoffgewgle4993 Жыл бұрын
It isn't common in the UK at all. Well, not before we imported half of Africa.
@tsopmocful1958
@tsopmocful1958 Жыл бұрын
Not common in UK.
@cockoffgewgle4993
@cockoffgewgle4993 Жыл бұрын
@Atheos B. Sapien A Yank accusing someone of being racist. It must be a day that ends in "y".
@satansmascara9756
@satansmascara9756 Жыл бұрын
@@cockoffgewgle4993 ok cockoff
@chegeny
@chegeny Жыл бұрын
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
@DrGeoffLindsey Жыл бұрын
Thanks! Is Yat used by different ethnicities?
@macademician
@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
@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
@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
@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!”
@yeetimusexe
@yeetimusexe 11 ай бұрын
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!
@patriciaburns1033
@patriciaburns1033 11 ай бұрын
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.
@t.a.k.palfrey3882
@t.a.k.palfrey3882 Жыл бұрын
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
@trollnystan Жыл бұрын
it could also have developed seperately. There is a Gullah language professor, Sunn m'Cheaux, who's on KZfaq who I think talks about it in one of his shorts if you're interested in that.
@Lena-cz6re
@Lena-cz6re Жыл бұрын
Because it is a feature mainly in West Africa
@moremiaj4786
@moremiaj4786 Жыл бұрын
Speak for East Africa alone perhaps, because in Nigeria and lots of West African countries they say aks not ask.
@KingofgraceSARA
@KingofgraceSARA Жыл бұрын
​@@moremiaj4786 I've friends from Ghana who says, deks instead of desk. God English is Pristina even better than most Americans.
@electronblue8334
@electronblue8334 Жыл бұрын
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
@winterwatson6811 Жыл бұрын
While common in AAVE, plenty of other american accents include aks as well :)
@LilyUnicorn
@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
@hellbach8879 Жыл бұрын
@@LilyUnicorn did you even watch the video? What a stupid comment
@turnleftaticeland
@turnleftaticeland Жыл бұрын
@@LilyUnicorn Did you watch the video?
@IvanSN
@IvanSN Жыл бұрын
@@LilyUnicorn you're a proper fool. watch the video you're commenting on before you go on a racist tirade.
@leehorrocks5253
@leehorrocks5253 11 ай бұрын
I am so glad that I came across this. My daughter and I were having a conversation about this the a few days ago.
@shanebobey9435
@shanebobey9435 11 ай бұрын
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.
@q-tuber7034
@q-tuber7034 Жыл бұрын
Content we didn’t know we needed. Thanks, Dr. Lindsey, for answering our half-asked questions
@ruby_wired
@ruby_wired Жыл бұрын
I just refreshed the page and saw you hit 100k subscribers! Congratulations, you truly deserve it and more!
@DrGeoffLindsey
@DrGeoffLindsey Жыл бұрын
Thanks so much, to you and all my viewers!
@gustavovillegas5909
@gustavovillegas5909 5 ай бұрын
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
@lovelylavenderr
@lovelylavenderr Ай бұрын
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.
@TerezatheTeacher
@TerezatheTeacher Жыл бұрын
This channel is excellent at giving us answers to questions we didn't aks.
@jamesm6830
@jamesm6830 Жыл бұрын
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.
@poshdelux
@poshdelux Жыл бұрын
Sir, you're the best! You make everything so interesting !
@rb5078
@rb5078 Жыл бұрын
I just always figured it was a bit of a tongue twister for some people. Finding this channel has been such an eye opener.
@philiptaylor7902
@philiptaylor7902 Жыл бұрын
I’ve always thought this pronunciation “curious” but had never realised it had such a long and venerable (Bede, Chaucer and Tyndale) history.
@Lindsay423
@Lindsay423 Жыл бұрын
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!
@chrisofnottingham
@chrisofnottingham Жыл бұрын
Stunning! Loved the outro section :-)
@lnplum
@lnplum 10 ай бұрын
Okay, kudos. That final example in the outro legit made me laugh. Way to prove a point.
@charlestolley2294
@charlestolley2294 Жыл бұрын
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
@anthonyfmoss
@anthonyfmoss Жыл бұрын
I have wondered about this all my adult life. What a relief to finally find out why. Thanks so much Geoff!
@RedHeadForester
@RedHeadForester 11 ай бұрын
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.
@tadamoriyagi8265
@tadamoriyagi8265 Жыл бұрын
I appreciate this informative and thoughtful video!
@scotthoover1568
@scotthoover1568 Жыл бұрын
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
@anenglishmanplusamerican7107 Жыл бұрын
Though it is the old English word, the language, adapts. It changes and it evolves.
@micayahritchie7158
@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
@anenglishmanplusamerican7107 Жыл бұрын
@@micayahritchie7158 I agree.
@aureliaa654
@aureliaa654 Жыл бұрын
Thank you so much for such a profound review on that interesting variation, never knew it goes way back into centuries.
@MarkSRiddle
@MarkSRiddle 5 ай бұрын
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!
@cris-1001
@cris-1001 Жыл бұрын
So high quality and high information content these videos!
@newenglandgreenman
@newenglandgreenman Жыл бұрын
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
@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/.
@sarar4901
@sarar4901 Жыл бұрын
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
@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
@KJ-td5gt Жыл бұрын
@@DrGeoffLindsey So what if you're talking about an iron ion?
@sarar4901
@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
@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
@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.
@brucekalter4206
@brucekalter4206 Жыл бұрын
This was informative; I learned something. Thank you!
@powdergate
@powdergate 8 ай бұрын
Superb video as usual! That ending was brilliantly funny as well 😂
@evanhefer5410
@evanhefer5410 Жыл бұрын
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
@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
@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
@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
@triarb5790 Жыл бұрын
@@tsopmocful1958 Not sure where you've been but it's very common in Victoria .
@babyboomerinc
@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!
@anthonypetty9288
@anthonypetty9288 Жыл бұрын
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
@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
@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
@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
@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
@redbeard3946 Жыл бұрын
A few of my Maori friends growing up would say (and sometimes even spell) "aks".
@wonderstruck.
@wonderstruck. 5 ай бұрын
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.)
@ThomasRonnberg
@ThomasRonnberg Жыл бұрын
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.
@natkretep
@natkretep Жыл бұрын
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?
@rasmusdamus7154
@rasmusdamus7154 Жыл бұрын
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.
@LaughingOrange
@LaughingOrange 11 ай бұрын
Finally, a well educated, well spoken person explaining the etymology without prejudice.
@silpheedTandy
@silpheedTandy Жыл бұрын
i'd love to see you make more videos about the cultural and political exploration that linguists do!
@francescaan110
@francescaan110 Жыл бұрын
I’m a simple person, I see Dr Geoff posted a video, I click
@DrGeoffLindsey
@DrGeoffLindsey Жыл бұрын
Thank you!
@KalebPeters99
@KalebPeters99 Жыл бұрын
I know this is a sensitive topic for some. You covered it so well, Dr Lindsey. Awesome as always 👌
@ephre
@ephre Жыл бұрын
I always wondered about this, thanks for that.
@jenjibur
@jenjibur Жыл бұрын
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. 🤦‍♀️
@fani5000
@fani5000 Жыл бұрын
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
@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
@G_Demolished Жыл бұрын
@@oneofthosepeople2101 You need to justify your assumption that language is prescriptive.
@oneofthosepeople2101
@oneofthosepeople2101 Жыл бұрын
@@G_Demolished 😁
@oneofthosepeople2101
@oneofthosepeople2101 Жыл бұрын
@@G_Demolished I have to admit, you got me, that’s the best troll I’ve read. ✌️
@doctornova3015
@doctornova3015 10 ай бұрын
​@@oneofthosepeople2101Fortunately, then, I understood what you meant when you wrote " You're " Jerry .
@LD-bv1pm
@LD-bv1pm Жыл бұрын
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
@sebastienh1100 Жыл бұрын
Laits speek and rite wizout judjing
@kingcrimson4133
@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
@sebastienh1100 Жыл бұрын
@@kingcrimson4133 - yes, culture, tradition, custom, heritage, love of the language of great authors are “purely in my mind”. 🤣🤣🤣
@kingcrimson4133
@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
@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)
@skellious
@skellious Жыл бұрын
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.
@adamtennant4936
@adamtennant4936 Жыл бұрын
Fascinating! I didn't know about the old/middle English origin.
@DarkHarpuia
@DarkHarpuia Жыл бұрын
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
@choreomaniac Жыл бұрын
Aks drives me crazy but I now understand that ass might be a bigger faux pas.
@KingofgraceSARA
@KingofgraceSARA Жыл бұрын
ESL- Why are you annoyed, at all?
@pklimbic
@pklimbic Жыл бұрын
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
@thehoneyeffect 11 ай бұрын
🇯🇲🔥🇯🇲🔥🇯🇲🔥🇯🇲🔥 I had to
@idkthatxool749
@idkthatxool749 Жыл бұрын
This makes me appreciate the Futurama joke so much more, thank you!
@Ltasty
@Ltasty 11 ай бұрын
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.
@mindconcept
@mindconcept Жыл бұрын
Thank you very much! It's something I have been asking (acsing?) myself for a while!
@pringlescan81
@pringlescan81 Жыл бұрын
I’m so blown away by what I’ve learned in this video. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
@jackbaxter-williams8059
@jackbaxter-williams8059 11 ай бұрын
I love the "assed" quotes. Great video.
@dottieparker7274
@dottieparker7274 Жыл бұрын
Fascinating. I've always wondered about this. 👍
@sirilucksana
@sirilucksana Жыл бұрын
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
@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
@SeekerGoldstone Жыл бұрын
Do you maybe mean "progeny"?
@sirilucksana
@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"😄
@VanCamelCat
@VanCamelCat Жыл бұрын
This has been bothering me for years. Finally! Someone who can educate me in a respectful manner, without judging me for not having known, or looking at me like I'm full of judgment myself. I'm so glad I have subscribed to you channel! 👍 👍
@jonthibault5509
@jonthibault5509 Жыл бұрын
I'm going to go WAY out on a limb here and say you're a white middle-class woman.
@VanCamelCat
@VanCamelCat Жыл бұрын
@@jonthibault5509 You happen to be incorrect. But let me ask you: Why judge my gender or class to begin with? You want to guess where I live, too? How is it relevant here, other than your preconceived notion of who I am, based solely on your uncalled-for judgements of me?
@johng4093
@johng4093 Ай бұрын
Non-judgmental people are always judging judgemental people.
@VanCamelCat
@VanCamelCat Ай бұрын
@@johng4093 Any chance for a clarification here?
@leofreaking
@leofreaking 11 ай бұрын
Wow, I never knew there was such a historical background to this. To be completely honest, I used to be somewhat annoyed as well anytime I heard it. Glad to learn new things, fascinating, thank you so much!
@nunoafonseca1
@nunoafonseca1 11 ай бұрын
Very interesting! Thank you for this video!
@Annie-hw8wz
@Annie-hw8wz Жыл бұрын
Very interesting video! And I had to laugh at the end when you added people saying “couldn’t be asked” instead of “couldn’t be arsed”. I lived in England for a good while thinking people actually said “I couldn’t be asked to do xyz”. It was only when I wrote it in a text message my boyfriend corrected me, saying it’s obviously not asked but arsed. Thanks for confirming that he actually does say asked 😜 (It made complete sense to me at the time that people would say asked.. like: “nobody can ask me to do this” was simply shortened to “I can’t be asked” 😂)
@notwithouttext
@notwithouttext Жыл бұрын
unfortunately, in those last situations they ARE saying "a*sed". "asked" came later because it sorta makes sense.
@DrGeoffLindsey
@DrGeoffLindsey Жыл бұрын
@@notwithouttext The really interesting thing, I guess, is how people assume something written is the 'real' thing.
@Zraknul
@Zraknul Жыл бұрын
I'm used to considering it as a related expression to "put your back into it" and half-arsed as a half effort. If you're physically pushing or pulling, you really should be using both cheeks.
@jonthibault5509
@jonthibault5509 Жыл бұрын
Yes, and they sound as stupid and uneducated as those who say "aks." That doesn't make it correct.
@notwithouttext
@notwithouttext Жыл бұрын
@@jonthibault5509 no one says arsed with a k though
@l.n.3372
@l.n.3372 Жыл бұрын
I've noticed this a lot. I've also noticed that people say "phree/free" instead of three.
@moeezS
@moeezS 2 ай бұрын
Thank you for the history lesson!
@marasmusine
@marasmusine 11 ай бұрын
Ha, I was hoping the Peter Serafinowicz sketch would be in the video somewhere, and you led with it!
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