Agree about generalising re things like this on threads like this where this has happened is plain silly but for the people who say they have never heard black people saying arx instead of ask...........:rolleyes:....even sillier.
That's an African American thing but now many UK kids are learning American lingo.
I remember my neighbour's kids started pronouncing ask as "axe-k" and the exact same time The Rikki Lake show started being screened on TV over here and their mother would relentlessly take the P out of them for it.
I've not heard 'arks' but 'axe' seems very common amongst the American poor. I was watching something last night on TV and a woman said she couldn't find her phone so she 'axed' her boyfriend. I thought - that's a bit of an overreaction and a helluva thing to admit to the police who had only stopped her for speeding :DThat and 'My baby mother'. What's wrong with 'The mother of my child'?
To be quite honest whenever I hear that phrase "baby mother" I always feel its an acknowledgement of the baby but not one of a close relationhsip with the mother , ie she was just sex and a vessel. may not be like that but thats how it sounds.
I hear "arksk" and "arks" all the time and not just from black people .
Still, it's not as bad as the white guy who live down the road from a friend of mine and who speaks in Jamaican patois despite being born to white, working-class parents and never travelling further than France. The tool even sucks his teeth too.
I remember it being on an advert ages ago. Can't remember what it was for but some girl was on a computer then goes to her mum and says "mum, Steve just arks me out"
To be quite honest whenever I hear that phrase "baby mother" I always feel its an acknowledgement of the baby but not one of a close relationhsip with the mother , ie she was just sex and a vessel. may not be like that but thats how it sounds.
I hear "arksk" and "arks" all the time and not just from black people
Yeah that annoys me. Not all black people say it like that. I think Carribeans and Africans will pronounce it that way more due to dialect so that's understandable. But as for those born and raised in Britain, I don't have a clue why they say it that way. It sounds silly!
I've not heard 'arks' but 'axe' seems very common amongst the American poor. I was watching something last night on TV and a woman said she couldn't find her phone so she 'axed' her boyfriend. I thought - that's a bit of an overreaction and a helluva thing to admit to the police who had only stopped her for speeding :DThat and 'My baby mother'. What's wrong with 'The mother of my child'?
In Old English the origin of the word 'ask' was 'aksian' or 'askian'.
After the great vowel shift of the middle ages in England, the word morphed into the more familiar 'ask'.
However, in the West Indian colonies the old english form of 'aksian' or later 'aks' was preserved within the patois and creoles of those Islands. Similarly in slave communities in the US where patois and creoles evolved, the old pronounciations were preserved and evolved differently than in English in England. It is a language feature known as 'colonial lag.'
So, aks, arks or axe , aren't mispronounciations, they are just different pronounciations that relate back to the original Old English.
I think I'm in love.
Seriously though, it's not all black people who say it. Some white people do say it as well. And not all who say it are from London either.
I thought it was a southern thing, rather than a black thing?
I've never heard it round here in Lancashire, though I've heard people down south who I used to phone for work say it - no idea whether they were black or white, as I never saw them.
Comments
...and in English?
No idea who that is?
But it is quite common and is parodied a lot in comedy sketches.
Catherine Tate's Lauren frequently says "arks". I think Vicky Pollard and Ali G use it too.
He's a funny guy, he should be on TV more.
I remember my neighbour's kids started pronouncing ask as "axe-k" and the exact same time The Rikki Lake show started being screened on TV over here and their mother would relentlessly take the P out of them for it.
To be quite honest whenever I hear that phrase "baby mother" I always feel its an acknowledgement of the baby but not one of a close relationhsip with the mother , ie she was just sex and a vessel. may not be like that but thats how it sounds.
I hear "arksk" and "arks" all the time and not just from black people .
I've never heard of an area dialect using arks before and if there are any then it's something recent.
Aluminum.
New
Clear. Debatable. Both spellings and pronunciations are valid.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#Etymology
Lyrics are
After waiting patiently for him to come and get it
He came on through and asked me if I wanted to get with him
Yet Keisha pronounces ask as aks.
Even better...My wife:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCZ_gcEhOYU
Denise's daughter Chelsea used to say it too
I think I'm in love.
Seriously though, it's not all black people who say it. Some white people do say it as well. And not all who say it are from London either.
I've never heard it round here in Lancashire, though I've heard people down south who I used to phone for work say it - no idea whether they were black or white, as I never saw them.
Maybe it's creeping northwards now, though.
Some young black and indeed, white and Asian people say it because they're copying off hip hop stars from America who have said 'aks' for decades.