Everybody.  PLEASE.  This is my formal request to the world to stop using the word “ask” as a noun.  (“I have a new ask.”)  PLEASE only use “ask” as a VERB.  Merriam Webster Dictionary agrees:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ask

The word you are reaching for is “REQUEST.”  (Please see the first paragraph.)  I have no idea why this bothers me so much, but … it DRIVES ME NUTS.  Seriously.  I even think that hearing the mispronounced “axe” is less unsettling.

The “ask-noun” happened all the time in New York, it seems mercifully absent among Virginia’s population.  The ask-noun is still around, however.  (Hint: notice how it rhymes with “ass-clown?”)

It has gained currency in TV-Land.  The latest offender is “The Following” (This season’s episode 13, I think.)

Anyway, if you DO use “ask” as a noun, then just LOOK at the shame and disappointment it has caused poor Kevin Bacon after it was used on his program.

I SAID *LOOK* AT HIM, DAMN YOU.