Can I axe you a question?

Yes, I typed that correctly. If you're a grammar Nazi like I am, maybe you'll cringe a little less after you hear me out.


Most of my readers are Southern, so I know at least most of y'all have heard people say "axe" when they mean "ask."


In fact, "axe" is actually the older of the two words. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word "acsian," meaning "to ask."


"Axe" was acceptable and perfectly correct back in ye olden times. In fact, until the end of the Elizabethan Era, it was used with greater or equal frequency than its modern counterpart.


Don't believe me? Here's proof:

• "And Pilate axide him, "Art thou Kyng of Jewis?" And Jhesus answeride him, "Thou seist."
• Wycliffe's Bible, 1382-95

• "A poor lazar, upon a tide, came to the gate, and axed meate."
• -John Gower, "Confessio Amantis," 1386-90

• "As herty blessings as ye can axe of God."
• -Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby, mother of Henry VII, 1443-1509, in a letter to her son

• "The King axed about Your Grace's welfare."
• -Dr. John Clarke, in a letter to Cardinal Wolsey, during the reign of Henry VIII

• "Day before yesterday, I went down to the post office, and ax'd the postmaster if there was anything for me."
• -William T Tappan, in "Major Jones's Courtship," Georgia, 1843.

• "I have often axed myself what sort of a gal that splendiferous Lady of the Lake of Scott's was."
• -Thomas C Halliburton, "Sam Slick in England," 1843

I was pretty surprised when I learned this. Maybe I'll think twice before I correct one of the kids at work next time they "axe" me if they can use the bathroom.


I doubt it, but I might.