that "axe" was actually the Middle English rendering of "ask." I really can't wait until somebody makes a snooty comment about a rapper or something saying "axe you a question" so I can correct them and point out that "axe" is actually the Middle English word. posted by koeselitz at 7:58 AM on January 4 [ 1 favorite ] I prounounce "query" as "queh-ry" bordering on "quare-y." I'm from North Carolina and reputedly have a not-recognizably southern accent unless I drink too much (and then "line" becomes "lahn" and so on). I will point out that I'm pretty sure I inherited my "query" pronunciation from my mother. She is from Virginia and has a particular northern Piedmont/southern Virginia sort of accent ("own" for "on," "oll" for "oil," "burra" for "borough," "pee-in" for "pin" and "pen"). "Not according to MattMangels, for whom the only correct English is English as spoken by MattMangels." Heh. You've been remarkably restrained in this discussion. Actually, now that I think about it, it really could have been much worse. Possibly the result of having a number of linguists here at MeFi, including yourself, and some more of us who are interested laypeople. Also, the impulse to prescriptivist peeving is lessened in the context of pronunciation because people are more aware of regional/dialect differences, and that they are at least arguably, and in some cases, valid. (Qualifications are the point of view of the prescriptivist minded, not mine.) Oh, also, something else occurs to me -- a