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The Ask

randsinrepose.com

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Re: The Ask

#111

Post by jeremyjh »

electrondood wrote: post #99
jeremyjh wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is absolutely the only requirement for it to be correct. Words are defined by the way people use them, and that can change over time. A dictionary is a record, not a rulebook.

It's only a certain subset of the population that speaks like this. It's pompous and ridiculous. Are the two syllables in the word "request" one too many for people working in Product?

Most people only use a subset of language, and a lot of language is used only by a small subset of people. "The Ask" is in mainstream usage - or at least known to - the target audience of TFA, which may not include you.

Re: The Ask

#112

Post by CurtMonash »

juliushuijnk wrote: post #104

Purely about the words 'The ask'. I'm not a native English speaker, but have been reading and sometimes speaking English for decades. For me 'the ask' feels strange. It sounds like it's just a verb made into a noun, like saying 'the sing' or 'the eat'. "I had an eat" "Three asks". What would make someone want to write 'the ask' and not 'request' or even just 'question'? How is it different?

I first encountered it in the 1981 James Clavell novel Noble House. The character using it was a well-educated Hong Kong gangster, or something similar to that.

(The plot of the book revolves around massive favors that a certain character is obligated to fulfill. At one point it is argued that "the ask" for one of them, while greatly annoying, could instead have been worse yet.)

Re: The Ask

#113

Post by gjvc »

jeremyjh wrote: post #110
gjvc wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

are you high / in wonderland? “When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’ ’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’ ’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.” ― Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass http://www.cleavebooks.co.uk/grol/alice/glass0…

Are you educated? Descriptivism is overwhelmingly the mainstream view or practice of language scholars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_description

liberal

Re: The Ask

#114

Post by [deleted] »

gjvc wrote: post #113
jeremyjh wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you educated? Descriptivism is overwhelmingly the mainstream view or practice of language scholars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_description

liberal

[deleted]

Re: The Ask

#115

Post by [deleted] »

gjvc wrote: post #113
jeremyjh wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you educated? Descriptivism is overwhelmingly the mainstream view or practice of language scholars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_description

liberal

[deleted]

Re: The Ask

#116

Post by jeremyjh »

gjvc wrote: post #113
jeremyjh wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you educated? Descriptivism is overwhelmingly the mainstream view or practice of language scholars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_description

liberal

There is still time man. Read a book. The public libraries are still free, thanks to liberals.

Re: The Ask

#117

Post by HotGarbage »

cma256 wrote: post #103
HotGarbage wrote: post #95

Never forget Rands was in Jerkcity (now Bonequest) and had them retroactively replace his character with atandt: https://web.archive.org/web/20170918052437/http://www.jerkci... https://bonequest.com/715 https://web.archive.org/web/20170918052444/http://www.jerkci... https://bonequest.com/712

I assume based on the content of these comics you'd like to punish him. You don't have to carry this weight. Let it go. It's been 25 years.

Nah, he just needs to own it.

Re: The Ask

#118

Post by 4ggr0 »

CurtMonash wrote: post #112
juliushuijnk wrote: post #104

Purely about the words 'The ask'. I'm not a native English speaker, but have been reading and sometimes speaking English for decades. For me 'the ask' feels strange. It sounds like it's just a verb made into a noun, like saying 'the sing' or 'the eat'. "I had an eat" "Three asks". What would make someone want to write 'the ask' and not 'request' or even just 'question'? How is it different?

I first encountered it in the 1981 James Clavell novel Noble House. The character using it was a well-educated Hong Kong gangster, or something similar to that. (The plot of the book revolves around massive favors that a certain character is obligated to fulfill. At one point it is argued that "the ask" for one of them, while greatly annoying, could instead have been worse yet.)

> I first encountered it in the 1981 James Clavell novel Noble House

i'm always very impressed by people like you. i can't even fully recall the plot of the last book i've read, yet you can remember a single expression in a book you read whenever...

Re: The Ask

#119

Post by MrWiffles »

juliushuijnk wrote: post #104

Purely about the words 'The ask'. I'm not a native English speaker, but have been reading and sometimes speaking English for decades. For me 'the ask' feels strange. It sounds like it's just a verb made into a noun, like saying 'the sing' or 'the eat'. "I had an eat" "Three asks". What would make someone want to write 'the ask' and not 'request' or even just 'question'? How is it different?

There’s a common phrase in English: “what’s the ask?” As in, “what is the other party requesting?” “What does this person want?”

I can see how that would sound/read a bit strange to one coming from another culture. It’s just another way of stating the concept of the purpose behind the reason for a person’s request, actions, statement, or in this case, why they requested a meeting.

Getting to “the ask” here meant, for the author, “what the hell does this fool REALLY want out of me?”

I prefer Walt’s approach. When I was 19, I worked for a small business up in Colorado. They had this contractor named Walt that did all their email, website, all that stuff (very early 2000s). Every time he answered the phone, it wasn’t a polite “Hello?”, no! Walt got straight to the point with one loud, gruff word that immediately set the tone for all his conversations:

“WHAT?!”

Re: The Ask

#120

Post by drcongo »

SAI_Peregrinus wrote: post #96
drcongo wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's that opening paragraph. > Coffee in hand, I sit down in the Cave. Any Tuesday during the work week, a sip, and I parse the calendar. How many Tuesdays are there in his work week?

3-5, usually. Tuesday is used as a placeholder for "generic day like any other". Monday & Friday might be special, or they might not. But Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are generic & interchangeable: you're not catching up after a weekend, and there's a work day the next day so there will be time to catch issues. They're Tuesdays in spirit, if not in fact.

Interesting, I've never come across this usage but makes sense.
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