Aks (arks) instead of Ask

[theblackradiator]

Just noticed Charlene white on the ITV news said Aks pronounced arks instead of ask. I've noticed people pronouncing it like this a lot lately why is this? was surprised to hear an itv news reader say it.

Started off in L.A. this did. Then London adopted it.

Isn't it just a London/SE accent thing. My friend says "drawring" for drawing which is another

It's an accent/dialect thing, common in London and the SE. It's not surprising to hear a presenter speaking in her own voice! The days of presenters having to speak in an RP accent are long gone.

Actually, it's a legitimate alternative pronunciation: theconversation.com/amp/ask-or-aks-how-linguistic-prejudice-perpetuates-inequality-175839

I don't know but that KFC ad on the radio does it and it bugs me. I don't mind accents but this irritates me and I can't explain why.

Like arse-k instead of ass-k ? Or like the word arcs?

It annoys me almost as much as people pronouncing " sixth" as " sikth"

I'd only ever heard it in America, but it is becoming more common here.
It is a genuine alternate pronunciation.

Another one constantly on the news "Breggsit" ...

Like "axs" or "ax".

It's a common alternative to "ask". It's not wrong or ungrammatical. In the same way that a Scottish person saying "gie" instead of "give" is not wrong or ungrammatical.

It originates in African-American Vernacular English (AAVE). Interesting that it is gaining prevalence here.

I've not heard the KFC ad on radio but it bugs me too! when I hear Arks on TV I come over all grammar police and shout ASK at the TV 🤣

It is just symptomatic of increasingly lax and falling standards of spoken English - even respected journalists, broadcasters and presenters, who ought to know better, are now prefacing every sentence with "so" and saying "I am/was sat" or "I am/was stood" when they mean "sitting" or "standing".

She also said "vunerable" which is another one that bugs me, and secketary

It's very commonly used its just how some people pronounce it.

Let's take the word 'assume' some people pronounce it
' ashoom' 🤔

I always thought it was carribean pronunciation

That’s been around a long time I remember kids in my school in west London using that pronunciation more than 30 years ago, but I think that London accent has maybe become more widely or freely used now that we have more celebrities with that accent bringing it into the main stream, it’s just another regional accent really isn’t it.

Yeh that makes sense.

It's not just a modern American origin thing though, it has been part of Black British English from historical Caribbean and west African routes.

Londoners have said it since I was a child...and before probably!

It is or was a feature of certain parts of the U.K., can’t remember which.
Also of Caribbean accents. It’s not an American import.

Eh? Where do you live? Who do you speak to?
[aks / aksk] has been around forever. It's dialect / vernacular.

It's not new at all where I'm from. I've always heard this, I associate it with the Coventry accent.

I remember ignorantly laughing at a girl at primary who said this in about 1997. It's just an alternative form of the verb in some dialects.

I'm pretty sure I remember at least one of the 19th-century books I read as a child (possibly A Little Princess?) including 'axed' for 'asked' in the speech of one of the servants. That was based in London too.

Anyway, whatever it's provenance, it's a legitimate variant and nothing to do with 'falling standards'.