Actually, in the Northeast USA, ask sounds more like "ax".

"Lemme Ax you dis..." Call it a local dialogue. They prefer to use their own version to stand out, be different and command distinction.

It is a relatively common dialect variant. It used to be common in the West of England, and hence spread to the Carribbean. It may have spread to the US from there.

Really, in Michigan they say "ax". I think it's the same concept of how the North says "pop" and the south says "soda". It all depends on where you grow up I guess.

For the same reason uneducated white people are often heard making the same mistake. It's just part of their personalised language discourse.

I never ever heard an African American say Ark unless they were talking about Noah's Lost Ark.

This question might be embarrassing to some, but I see it as a fair question and believe it's the dialect of certain cultures...

"Arks"? I don't think I've ever heard that. Where are you from? In Georgia- because we're southern, I believe- we pronounce it "ax" instead of "ask" and/or "arks".

I don't know the answer to this but it is a subject that has always intrigued me. My ex-son-in-law's first wife was West Indian and they had two daughters. His wife left him when the children were babies and he brought the girls up (he's a white Englishman). The girls have always said 'arks' instead of 'ask'. I know another West Indian child who was fostered with a white family from the age of 6 months and he says 'arks' instead of 'ask'.

hey im not black..im a hillbilly and i say "ass" instead of "ask" i dont know why but...hey wait thats racist...

In linguistics this is called metathesis and is common to all languages. Some examples: Going from Old English to Modern English: brid became bird; hros became horse. In some Spanish dialects: probe became pobre; sequina became esquina. Another common sound change, very common in the UK, is "ah" becoming "ar" so "half" becomes "arf" (it loses the h as well). So, I think the "arks" you refer to is actually "ask" becoming "aks". Nothing sinister about this, nothing ignorant or stemming from poor education. It's simply language doing what it's always done: change.

(from http://linguistlist.org/issues/7/7-1048.html) I'm not absolutely sure how the word entered African American English as /aks/; my guess (but it's just a guess) might be that the form /aks/ was the form most commonly used in the dialect of English to which the slaves were originally exposed, and it's persisted in African American English for the same sociolinguistic reasons that other features persist. I'd be inclined to treat it as a retention rather than as an innovation in African American English.

Other races say 'ark' I'm sure.

it is AX - i can't stand that!

they say aks - yeah it drives me nuts too but its acceptable in their house - they say amBUHlance too instead of ambulance

As someone else has noted: in parts of the UK, the word is pronounced "arks." Black speech is an official dialect of the English language, called BEV, or Black English Vernacular. Most African slaves came from West Africa in the Niger-Congo language region. In Niger-Congo languages, "sk" is NOT an acceptable sound combination for a word ending. This is common throughout the world; many languages do not allow that combination of sounds. Many slavedrivers on the ships from Africa were Englishmen. Not nobles, but po' folk from England, hill-billy types. A lot of them said "arks." When the African slaves were spoken to in English and taught English, it was probably easier to pronounce "arks" instead of "ask" because of the sound combinations that they were used to. So that's what got picked up more frequently. Just like some French people say "Zee plane" instead of "The plane." There's no "th" sound in French. Another example, some Germans say "Dee plane" because German has no "th" sound either. So, when people think that Black Americans sound "ignorant," LOOK AT THE HISTORY, LOOK AT THE LEGACY OF SLAVERY, because there is a true linguistic reason why "aks" is prevalant in Black speech.

PEOPLE IN ALL WALKS OF LIFE FROM DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE COUNTRY, SPEAK DIFFERENTLY. NORTH SPEAKING IS DIFFERENT FROM SOUTH SAME AS IS NORTHWEST. THATS WHY WORDS ARE PRONOUNCED LIKE OTHER WORDS.

I am black british and googled thinking there was maybe a historical reason for it too. I myself and my family say arks instead of ask and I wouldn't say i was picked on for it, more that it was always picked up upon from my white collegues. So I was intrigued to know where it derived from... I know many other black people say it too so my guess is it came from an accent and has just continued on many years later. Not sure but hey don't arks me :0)

Ax is an Old English word. It does not mean you are uneducated or using bad grammar. Actually, it is very good grammar, it is just 400 year old grammar and is a carry over to modern English. It is used by both black and white, especially in the South. It is part of our heritage.