And what I take to be another GUEST ventured:

Americans seem to have replaced the simple word "ask" with aks or is it spelled ax...infuriating.

The pronunciation "ax" for "ask" is neither new nor, as I understand it, American. It's from England, and at least as early as the 18th Century. I don't at the moment have right at hand the language-history book where I learned this gem.

Dave Oesterreich