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Pastimes : SI Grammar and Spelling Lab

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To: Edwarda who wrote (1689)	1/13/1999 9:29:00 PM
From: Jack Clarke	Read Replies (1) of 4710

Edwarda: I hope pronunciation isn't off topic on this thread. The discussions which might appear are indeed complex or endless. I guess I started it with my peeve of "EK-cetera". Anyway, regarding your examples: aks for ask? nucular for nuclear? I agree that "nucular" is terrible. President Carter (a "nucular" engineer, I am told) used it all the time, to my great consternation. "Aks" for ask is common among speakers of our very own black English vernacular, but it does have an archaic precedent. I believe old English "aksian" or something similar, is the root of the word which in modern English becomes "ask". I think it is even used as late as Chaucer and came into our Southern American dialect in some way. If I have the time I'll look it up. Clearly "aks" is unacceptable now, but those who have learned it this way in childhood find it almost impossible to change, and at least they have some historical precedent for this dialectical usage. I have a good feel for Southern dialect, both white and black varieties, and we could have an entire thread just devoted to these forms of our wonderful language. Jack

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