Why do black people say arks instead of ask?

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  • Chasing ShadowsChasing Shadows Posts: 3,096
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    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.

    ...and in English?
  • SurferfishSurferfish Posts: 7,659
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    Peter Serafanowicz had a character who did this, on his sketch show.

    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.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 4,845
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    That's an African American thing but now many UK kids are learning American lingo.
  • Daisy BennybootsDaisy Bennyboots Posts: 18,375
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    paulbrock wrote: »

    He's a funny guy, he should be on TV more.
    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.
  • skp20040skp20040 Posts: 66,872
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    Andrue wrote: »
    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 .
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 16
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    I can't stand when people say "eXpecially". Drives me crazy. It isn't a black or white thing either, as I hear it equally from both.
  • exlordlucanexlordlucan Posts: 35,375
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    myss wrote: »

    Same here. If anything, I think it's more to do with the dialect of the area than an attribute of all black people.

    I've never heard of an area dialect using arks before and if there are any then it's something recent.
  • alan29alan29 Posts: 34,612
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    Nucular.
    Aluminum.
  • 36_Chambers36_Chambers Posts: 944
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    Most folk where i grew up said AXE not ARKS
  • AndrueAndrue Posts: 23,351
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    alan29 wrote: »
    Nucular.
    Yeah that one puzzles me. It's only two words, both in common use, one after the other.

    New
    Clear.
    Aluminum.
    Debatable. Both spellings and pronunciations are valid.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#Etymology
  • CaldariCaldari Posts: 5,890
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    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.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 17,123
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    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"
  • dreamfishdreamfish Posts: 1,527
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    How about Sugababes Push The Button song:

    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.
  • TomGrantTomGrant Posts: 4,251
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    I hear it all the time in London
  • skp20040skp20040 Posts: 66,872
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    skp20040 wrote: »
    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
  • SoggyFroggySoggyFroggy Posts: 743
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    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!
  • SULLASULLA Posts: 149,789
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    Andrue wrote: »
    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'?

    Even better...My wife:)
  • FizzbinFizzbin Posts: 36,827
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    Peter Serafanowicz had a character who did this, on his sketch show.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCZ_gcEhOYU
  • myssmyss Posts: 16,457
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    I've never heard of an area dialect using arks before and if there are any then it's something recent.
    Not sure if dialect was the right word, but I've heard it more from some younger children in the outer areas of London and chavs.
  • Its-GillianIts-Gillian Posts: 3,130
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    paulbrock wrote: »
    Fatboy on Eastenders is a classic example of someone saying it. I think Denise's sister does as well.

    Denise's daughter Chelsea used to say it too
  • TakaeTakae Posts: 13,555
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    Me-Cheetah wrote: »
    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. :D

    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.
  • AndrueAndrue Posts: 23,351
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    SULLA wrote: »
    Even better...My wife:)
    Lol, yeah. That would be best of all :)
  • Granny McSmithGranny McSmith Posts: 19,622
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    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.

    Maybe it's creeping northwards now, though.
  • Harper_MilneHarper_Milne Posts: 2,854
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    I've heard white and blacks say it where I live in London. It's just easier to say then asks.
  • JonDoeJonDoe Posts: 31,598
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    Thy don't.

    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.
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