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The Ask

randsinrepose.com

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Re: The Ask

#101

Post by gjvc »

jeremyjh wrote: post #84
gjvc wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that does not in any way make it correct

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.

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/glass06.htm

Re: The Ask

#103

Post by cma256 »

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.

Re: The Ask

#104

Post by juliushuijnk »

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?

Re: The Ask

#105

Post by appplication »

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?

In this case, ask is a noun, synonym for a request. “My only ask is that you tell me before you leave”

Re: The Ask

#106

Post by ricardobeat »

appplication wrote: post #105
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?

In this case, ask is a noun, synonym for a request. “My only ask is that you tell me before you leave”

Despite being proper english, it has not been part of common language in the past centuries - except for corporate culture, where it probably took of around the 90s. For most people it sounds just as alien as circle back, synergies and not having the bandwidth for X.

Re: The Ask

#107

Post by xboxnolifes »

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?

Its different because corporate workers will bend over backwards to do anything except speak normally in a corporate context. Because, for whatever reason, thats what corporate culture has developed into.

Re: The Ask

#108

Post by allenu »

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?

It's a common way to phrase a request in the corporate world. It's a bit more of a concrete and explicit than a simple request, something that can be written down in bullet points in a meeting notes summary or an email.

I hate it too (and others like "learnings" when "lessons" would suffice), but I see the purpose it serves. Asking a team "What's the ask?" is a way of explicitly asking what the concrete requests are which can be documented and followed up on (i.e. "circle back"), whereas just asking for "requests" is more like asking for preferences, which may not be binding, or a vague direction to go for planning.

Re: The Ask

#110

Post by jeremyjh »

gjvc wrote: post #101
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.

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

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