Shortly after midnight on June 10, 1912—one hundred years ago this week—a stranger hefting an ax lifted the latch on the back door of a two-story timber house in the little Iowa town of Villisca. The ...

The minute I open my mouth, it’s clear that I’m from New York (Brooklyn, to be exact). And though my high school speech teachers did their best to beat the accent out of me—and I do tamp it down—it’s ...

Few things stick out more in black American speech than the pronunciation of “ask” as “ax.” And when I say that it “sticks out,” I’m being polite. Attitudes about Ebonics have evolved somewhat as hip ...

The most common stereotype of black vernacular is the pronunciation of the word "ask" as "ax." "Ax" has gotten a bad rap for years. Pronounce "ask" as "ax," and immediately many will assume that ...

A rare prop ax swung by Jack Nicholson during the filming of some of the most memorable scenes in Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 psychological horror film The Shining is headed to auction. "Hee-ere’s JOHNNY!" ...