Tom (yesthattom) wrote,
Tom
yesthattom

My ask is that...

I feel huge amounts of pain every time a business person nounifies “ask” as in, “My ask is that you approve this budget before Friday.” The right word to use is “request”, but business people are evolving our language.

It is tempting to fight back by writing ask in quotes:
My “ask” is that you approve this budget before Friday
to emphasize that it is not proper English.

Today I was about to do that when it dawned on me that maybe I use use the proper word but put it in quotes. Would that be funny? Would the ask-using person that I am communicating with even get it?

What if I did it verbally and did air quotes for the word “request”. Would that be too blatantly sarcastic?
Subscribe

  • Being an adult is difficult

    It is frequently very difficult for me to say "no" to people. This week I said "no" twice in situations where it would have been…

  • Global Warming

    You know how when climate crisis deniers say things like, "look! it's snowing! obviously global warming is a hoax!" and people like me…

  • Those poor, poor, misguided google employees

    When I was at Google I complained that Google Drive was unsearchable and, to be honest, I was sick and tired of friends emailing me snarky comments…

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal

    switch
    default userpic

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    Help
  • 27 comments

  • Being an adult is difficult

    It is frequently very difficult for me to say "no" to people. This week I said "no" twice in situations where it would have been…

  • Global Warming

    You know how when climate crisis deniers say things like, "look! it's snowing! obviously global warming is a hoax!" and people like me…

  • Those poor, poor, misguided google employees

    When I was at Google I complained that Google Drive was unsearchable and, to be honest, I was sick and tired of friends emailing me snarky comments…