Before anyone rushes to correct axe to ask, the Wife of Bath would like a word.
Chaucer used axe in The Canterbury Tales in the late fourteenth century. The form has a long history in English and remains part of African American English and other English varieties. In other words: this is not a new mistake. It is a very old linguistic pattern with considerably better documentation than many of its critics.
The front carries “Axe me about proper English” in a small left-chest placement. The back delivers the historical receipt—“Your correction is six centuries late”—with the Chaucer line and a Canterbury procession.
The receipt: The Wife of Bath’s Prologue, line 20, reads “But that I axe, why…” in the University of Michigan’s Middle English text.
Price range: $20.50 through $34.00
