Why Can't Black People Say AX... I Mean ASK?

People have used, and will continue to use, Ask, as well as, Aks, Ax, Axe, and As, which - I can't stress enough - is fine.

So today we're going to talk about the word "ask" and if "aks" is wrong, an incorrect pronunciation, a phonetic issue, just different, or a grammarical error; but we'll focus on the question, 'why cant black people say ask?'

Featuring content from:
• @sunnmcheaux
• @AbrahamPiper
• @WhatsGoodEnglish

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#JeffWiggins #MyArchitectKnowsJapanese #WeGonBeAlright

[deshaunx]

THANK YOU for this. This behavior is considered to be elitist, but nobody ever wants to acknowledge the racist origins of attacking people—specifically Black people— for the way they pronounce words. The sad part is the people who need to hear this message won’t watch this video.

[ChrisWilliams-lsue]

I am black and whenever someone says "axe" I cringe so hard

[edkent]

This video is why I love Jeff Wiggins. Somebody tell me how you make a 10 minute video on the proper pronunciation of "ask", and it's entertaining, informative, and sometimes hilarious. Keep up the great work you do Jeff. By the way, I'll bet you would be a great teacher.

[petertu]

When I was growing up, my friends made fun of me for pronouncing the word as “ask” — insisting that the correct pronunciation was “ax.” I tried to prove I was correct by showing them the dictionary pronunciation, but they still didn’t believe me. Interestingly, several of my teachers also asserted that the correct pronunciation was “ax” or that both pronunciations were acceptable. One teacher explained that only uppity white folks say “ask” when they are trying to make black folks feel inferior. Interestingly, my friends would say “mask” and “task” rather than “max” to “tax.” Weird, I would think consistency would require you to say “I wore a max” and “I finished the assigned tax.”

[luciarel]

I recently saw a meme that said, "English isn't a language; it's three languages wearing a trenchcoat, pretending to be one."

[thrivingautist]

My mother, and both grandmothers, were school teachers. And, although I grew up in Kentucky, none of my ancestry is from Kentucky. Any tendency towards “hillbilly english””black english”, or other “lower class pronunciation” were treated very harshly. Also, I’m on the autism spectrum so many subjects seemed to have sharp delineations between correct and incorrect.
I didn’t see the racial and class ramifications until much later in life.
It’s sad that I honestly thought I was being helpful when I corrected people’s language.

[berrynice]

This is so good and so timely. I have had little exposure to black people and now that I speak with many of them in Meta’s Horizon Worlds, I had made assumptions about the use of the word aks instead of ask. And I was so wrong. This video is freakin amazing and I am feeling more human because of it. Thank you!!!

[lindammpn]

@Sunnmcheaux thank you for your greatness. It’s spreading. Thank you Jeff for forwarding this information.

[ZERO_OX]

Glad to see SunnMCheaux featured in this video. I always love and appreciate his commentary, especially when he's talking about dialect within southern, black, cajun and creole cultures. ❤✌

[pageljazz]

I'm a white kid from Wisconsin. My people mispronounce thousands of words. When I hear one of my neighbors make fun of how people with different accents talk, I want to say, "so how's your mudder?"

[nitanice]

as a veteran court reporter, I truly may have heard it all. It doesn't faze me to hear someone pronounce words differently. I still put them in written form the same way and my ear has to be able to HEAR them the same way when I'm going at 250 words per minute. "gon, " "gonna, " and a West Indian "gwaun" all translate as "going to." And the thing I first hated when I moved to the south, "fixing to, " "fixing ta, " "fidna, " and "finna" all translate to "fixing to." What kills me are the things that I have to sic, like "no contents" when the person means "no contest" in a plea. Or I "pacifically" told him to.... The richness of the diversity of English from the Phillipines to India to South Africa, New Zealand, England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Kenya, the US and the Caribbean is absolutely fascinating and wonderful to me. Great video!

[GrantTarredus]

This is informative, entertaining and goes into places I never anticipated! Thanks!

[TheBoofhead]

My mind has been expanded tonight - Ive immigrated from Australia and have had a lot of observations about language and things I found weird. Youve helped me to chill and just accept it all

[GoetiaTV]

God I love etymology, linguistics, vernacular… pretty much everything you discuss in this video. Thanks for this excellent lesson and showing me some other creators to follow.

[CityKat]

Standing ovation. THANK YOU for this video! ❤

[brentwalker]

You are a master of code switching. Ultimately, I feel it's a matter of communication. My problem with pronouncing it as "ax" is that the verb "to axe" has a different meaning than "to ask". Although context usually will convey the intended meaning, pronouncing "ask" and "axe" identically can lead to confusion. Great

[NickyQuesne]

I'm black and from the UK and I can't help but say ask and it comes out "aws-k".I get teased about it all the time in the states. When I came to the US I didn't understand why Arkansas and Kansas are pronounced differently. And for what it's worth, I pronounce Wednesday phonetically owing to when my daughter was sounding it out as a child, she said Wednesday not Whensday. Everyone in the fam does it this way now as a family joke. Also only in the states do I get the backhanded compliment that I speak so well from non brown folks. As a response, I tell them they do as well... 😏

[benzell]

‘Wednesday’ is also an interesting example, which ties in perfectly to the two ‘expert’ clips you highlighted. Etymologically, it’s origin comes from the old Norse for ‘Wodin’s day’, which later was culturally anglicized (metathesis) to spoken as ‘wensday’ while keeping the spelling closer to the original. 😁

[osmanjeffrey]

How do I begin to thank you for this video? It's pure fire. Keep 'em coming please!

[andaros]

This was a fantastic video. It got me to question something I never have and see it through a new lens. Thank you! ❤