ask [OE] Like many short but vital words, ask is Old English. Variations of the saying ask a silly question and you get a silly answer date back to at least the 13th century. It has a biblical source, ‘Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit’, from the Book of Proverbs. A big ask is a difficult demand to make of someone, a lot to ask. The phrase originates in Australia, where it was first recorded in 1975, but has spread quickly into British English.