May 19, 2020
Way back during the 2016 Presidential campaign, I think it was, I received a solicitation for money for HRC by way of Joe Biden. It included the phrase “Here is my ask:” I took this to mean “Here is my request.” Still, ask is a verb, not a noun, and this left an impression on me. The impression was that maybe Joe wasn’t so bright.
Neal Katyal and Joshua Geltzer recently wrote an opinion piece in the NYT (“The Appalling Damage of Dropping the Michael Flynn Case.” 5/8/20). In it, they use “tell” as a noun, twice. Here is the tell…. And there’s a second tell. Two Georgetown Law professors, for crying out loud.
I first thought, from context, that they meant here is the point or here’s the takeaway and had somehow become law professors without realizing that tell is a verb. That seems entirely plausible these days. However, it appears that, after some investigation, Here’s the tell means something more like Here’s their giveaway. It’s a term found in poker.
Yes I know there is no Academie anglaise, and useage is king in English. But come on guys. I haven’t heard tell used this way anywhere else. I don’t play poker and, well, it turns out Joe doesn’t have three Nobels after all.
So Ask remains a verb. And Tell remains a verb.
MOE
M.I.C.H. – Modernity, Intelligence, Complexity, Humanity