another head-scratcher

[Amy West]

On 5/4/12 12:00 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
> Date:    Thu, 3 May 2012 17:17:09 -0400
> From:    Dan Goncharoff<thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: another head-scratcher
>
> 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
I've heard the term in the context of "grass-roots" lobbying -- similar
situation to non-profit fundraising. The "ask" is basically what you're
asking the legislator to do (sponsor bill, support bill, vote for bill,
etc.) "To make the ask" seemed to me to indicate the rhetorical moment
in the conversation where you specify what you want done: everything
else earlier is building up to this.

---Amy West

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org