another head-scratcher

[Dan Goncharoff]

I know "ask" and "make the ask" from non-profit fundraising. The reason for
the word to exist is to overcome the reluctance of polite people to talk
about money. The "ask" is the conversation about money -- about a specific
amount of money.

Asking someone to donate money is a request.

Asking someone to donate $100 is an "ask".

I believe the phrase is also used in other contexts, like salary
negotiations.

DanG


On Thu, May 3, 2012 at 5:06 PM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      another head-scratcher
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> http://goo.gl/BnQYZ
>
> > Bopp parsed two court rulings, one of them on a case he brought. By
> > his reading, and contrary to past law, it's OK for a federal candidate
> > to call up a CEO and make the ask. "I can read the law," he says, "and
> > I felt confident that what we were doing was well within the
> > strictures of the law."
>
> "Make the ask"? New one for me. It keeps going.
>
> > Within the law, because the ask wouldn't be for the candidate's own
> > campaign committee -- it would be on behalf of an independent group
> > called a superPAC, which would then spend the money in support of the
> > candidate.
>
> I guess, "request" was unavailable for comment.
>
>     VS-)
>
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