diff --git a/src/frontend/misccoms.c b/src/frontend/misccoms.c
index 450da7966..4108b712f 100644
--- a/src/frontend/misccoms.c
+++ b/src/frontend/misccoms.c
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ com_quit(wordlist *wl)
     bool noask =
         (wl  &&  wl->wl_word  &&  1 == sscanf(wl->wl_word, "%d", &exitcode)) ||
         (wl  &&  wl->wl_word  &&  cieq(wl->wl_word, "noask"))  ||
-        cp_getvar("noaskquit", CP_BOOL, NULL);
+        !cp_getvar("askquit", CP_BOOL, NULL);
 
     /* update screen and reset terminal */
     gr_clean();
diff --git a/src/frontend/miscvars.c b/src/frontend/miscvars.c
index 440780fbf..bfd9388be 100644
--- a/src/frontend/miscvars.c
+++ b/src/frontend/miscvars.c
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ char *ft_setkwords[] = {
     "addcontrol",
     "altshow",
     "appendwrite",
+    "askquit",
     "brief",
     "bypass",
     "chgtol",
@@ -80,7 +81,6 @@ char *ft_setkwords[] = {
     "moremode",
     "nfreqs",
     "noasciiplotvalue",
-    "noaskquit",
     "nobjthack",
     "nobreak",
     "noclobber",
diff --git a/src/spinit.in b/src/spinit.in
index 418ddb65c..f2e19a180 100644
--- a/src/spinit.in
+++ b/src/spinit.in
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ set x11lineararcs
 *set filetype=ascii
 ** frontend debug output **
 *set ngdebug
-** no asking after quit **
-set noaskquit
+** asking after quit **
+*set askquit
 ** set the number of threads in openmp
 ** default (if compiled with --enable-openmp) is: 2
 *set num_threads=4