The thing with ask -> aks = 'axe' is technically metathesis, where two consonants switch position as a language evolves, normally because people find it easier to say, and it then 'sticks' and becomes official.

You get it a lot in Spanish, when compared with the original Latin-based forms in other Romance languages. E.g. the 'obliv' root of 'forget' which gives us oblivion in English, 'oublier' in French, is 'olvidar' in Spanish. The 'l' is in the 'wrong' place. But that's standard Spanish, as it has evolved. In Catalan it's still 'oblidar', and once upon a time it was in Early Spanish as well. People out in the street changed the way they pronounced it, and by the time dictionaries and the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language, their equivalent of 'axe/aks a question' was the official form.

It's all a matter, I think, of how and when you codify, and how flexible you are after that in accounting for variations.

Is 'aluminum' wrong for the element Al? International scientific convention sides with British English. But it was described by early scientists (in Britain) as 'aluminum' before it got changed to 'aluminium'. Who gets to decide?

Fascinating indeed!