Live data from Hacker News

The Ask

randsinrepose.com

121–122 of 122 posts

Re: The Ask

#121
post #108

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…

Thanks

Re: The Ask

#122
post #109
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ask is a noun

and you are a fool

no, u

ask noun [ C usually singular ] uk/ɑːsk/ us /æsk/ ask noun [C usually singular] (REQUEST) the act of asking someone to do something or give you something such as money: The message came with "an ask", meaning users were asked to do something upon receiving it. make the ask He was an aggressive fundraiser who worked the phones fanatically and had no hesitation about making the ask.

Post reply on HN