::dons the grammarian hat::

Now playing: Jeff Rona - Sparrowhawk
via FoxyTunes


Okay folks, I know the English language is mutable and all that, but can we please stop using the phrase "begs the question" when we really mean "raises the question"?

Begging the question (from the Latin petitio principii, "assuming the initial point") is a very specific logical fallacy in which the proposition to be proved is included in the premise, e.g. "we need to ban his filthy books from the library" (Why? Because they're filthy. But we haven't actually proven that that's the case, just assumed it in the initial premise).

This wouldn't be so bad if begging the question had something to do with raising a question, but it doesn't. They are two completely different things semantically. For the love of god, English is already a giant beast of a language with a heap of irregularities, we don't need any more ambiguities! I believe Stoppard says it best...

"[Words are] innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they’re no good any more..."


Enough, More Later.
- James