632 - 'Ask' as a Noun. Ships as 'She.'

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Mignon Fogarty, Inc.

Society & Culture, Education

4.5 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 2 August 2018

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week we answer a listener question about "the ask" and look at whether it's OK to call boats, cars, and countries "she." FOLLOW GRAMMAR GIRL Twitter: http://twitter.com/grammargirl Facebook: http://facebook.com/grammargirl Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/realgrammargirl Instagram: http://instagram.com/thegrammargirl LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/grammar-girl SPONSORS http://stitcherpremium.com/grammar (offer code GRAMMAR) http://blinkist.com/grammar GRAMMAR POP iOS GAME Optimized for iPad: http://bit.ly/GrammarPopiPad For iPad and iPhone: http://bit.ly/GrammarPop GRAMMAR GIRL BOOKS http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl-book-page

Transcript

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0:00.0	This week I have a tidbit about whether it's okay to use the word Ask as a noun, and a
0:12.9	meeting middle about whether it's okay to call ships.
0:16.1	She.
0:17.1	Let's get started.
0:18.9	A couple of weeks ago I got an email from a listener named Luana.
0:23.2	She wrote, quote, my husband works in sales, and the phrase, the Ask is, is frequently
0:29.9	used.
0:30.9	It's a new way of saying the request is.
0:34.3	And I'm curious about the origins of this and if Ask can be used as a noun.
0:39.8	What was especially interesting was that I haven't heard this question before, but I also
0:44.7	did a radio interview that week and someone from Ohio asked a similar question.
0:49.8	And then I saw someone from the ACLU tweeting that a lawyer from the Department of Justice
0:54.9	said it's, quote, a lot to ask of the government to absorb the cost of reunifying the families
1:00.7	that tore apart.
1:02.3	But then he looked at his notes and revised the tweet, saying the lawyer actually didn't
1:07.8	say it's a lot to ask.
1:10.1	He said, it's a huge ask.
1:12.9	So in addition to the people calling and writing about using Ask as a noun, I saw this
1:17.8	other instance of a federal lawyer using Ask as a noun too, all in one week.
1:23.8	But like so many things that seem new, once you start noticing them, when I started doing
1:29.0	research, using Ask as a noun turns out to be about as old as you can get.
1:35.4	The Oxford English Dictionary shows that Ask has been used as a noun since Old English.
	...

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