"My ask"

[yesthattom]

Turns out “my ask” is a lot older than you’d expect.

1781 T. TWINING Let. 8 Dec. in Recreat. & Stud. (1882) 108, I am not so unreasonable as to desire you to..answer all my asks.

Arnold’s Language Log writes about it. (and he quotes my LJ post. Hi Arnold!!)

Comments

[ted-badger.livejournal.com]

'Ask' may have a history as a noun, but few would dispute that it is clearer to say,

"Please approve the budget before Friday."

I love this kind of discussion, thanks for linking to the Language Log, I definitely want to take a look at it.