Well, "beg the question" is a translation from latin - petitio principii - so pedants could say it isn't from your native language (unless you meant latin).

Language evolves - things that start out as misunderstandings or errors become informal usage, then dominant usage, then the correct way.

Others stay misunderstandings or errors.

It pays to learn the correct way so you sound educated as you speak, and so other educated people don't automatically discount what you say, but there's little benefit in attempting to correct others.

That said, mis-using erudite words or phrases spoils the effect.

>Language evolves - things that start out as misunderstandings or errors become informal usage, then dominant usage, then the correct way.

Yes, language does evolve. For example, American English has evolved in such a way that "beg the question" now means "raise the question" to the vast majority of people in the year 2017.

Forgive me, but I think you're in the minority of people who bristle at the contemporary usage of this phrase, which makes you come off as incredibly pedantic.

Please note that I responded to the "by what authority" comment, not the "begs the question" comment... The reason to care about official meanings is to avoid sounding uneducated.

I literally could care less about "begs the question". The formal use can be depreciated - we're not likely to staunch that floe. But irregardless of my feelings, people who flaunt the official meaning and right "begs the question" in the increasingly common usage have the wrong affect - they sound like they're putting on heirs - "raises" or "brings up" each sound more naturist.

(Yes, that was fun. I hope you like it, too!)

Top notch response! :)

> Language evolves - things that start out as misunderstandings or errors become informal usage, then dominant usage, then the correct way.

Kind of like how "I could care less" actually means you don't care at all, despite the literal interpretation of the sentence meaning that you're capable of caring less, which means you DO care.

You are allowed to use the same words as an idiom while not using that idiom. The words make sense as a non-idiom. It is not a misuse to do this.

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean- neither more nor less."

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."

"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master-that's all."

I don't understand what point you're making.

The point is that you don't get to mean what you want to mean. That's childish. You mean what others understand you to mean.

Relevant xkcd - https://xkcd.com/1860/

You can mean what you want, but in this case you're using an important idiom from philosophy to mean something else. People will pick you up on it. Best to say "raises the question" if that's what you mean.

We lost this fight a while ago. I see and hear "begs the question" to mean "raise the question" from all sorts of media.

And people don't pick up after their dogs.

Oh, I do say "raises the question", because I'm aware of this debate and I want to head off language pedantry. That doesn't mean I don't disagree with said pedantry.

I've literally never seen a usage of "begs the question" that couldn't be immediately disambiguated by context.

None. I just imagine it's useful that other people understand you.

But hey, if you want to use the wrong words, phrases, etc, then it's your right to do so. ...

Well I am glad you cast it in terms of people understanding one another, because everyone understands the (scare quotes:) "wrong" version of "begs the question" perfectly.

Words mean things, but what they mean is a social phenomenon, not handed down from some authority.

> if you want to use the wrong words

You say while advocating for a mistranslation.

Perhaps I misunderstand you - what am I advocating for? I thought I was advocating to keep everyone on the same page?

Should I start randomly using your and you're? If you can figure it out, what's the point of using the "correct" one?

> what am I advocating for?

Aren't you advocating for the "correct" use of "begging the question"? I'm just pointing out that such a use is also wrong.

> I thought I was advocating to keep everyone on the same page?

As if it actually confuses anyone.

> If you can figure it out, what's the point of using the "correct" one?

Because misspellings slow down comprehension. Using words in a different manner that both people understand doesn't.

Language is such a messy affair lol.

I can see where you're coming from. It just sucks that this argument seems to be, "there is no right, get used to wrong shit". And I know, I know, you're debating whether it's wrong at all - but I can't help but feel when people say the exact opposite words than what they mean, it feels wrong. For example, "I could give a damn" vs "I couldn't give a damn" _(and variations of it)_. It's an almost hilariously opposite meaning to what the user intended, yet.. it's going to become the "right" meaning.

Is there no end in your eyes? When does this just start becoming broken English?

> "I could give a damn" vs "I couldn't give a damn"

That's more understandable to object to because the words in a literal context are being misused. This is the creation of an idiom because of people misremembering the phrase. It's probably too late to stop, but idioms aren't created at a very rapid pace.

Begging the question is nearly the opposite situation. There exists an idiom where the words as taken literally are a mess, and people are using the same words, basically-correctly, to not mean that idiom.

The author did not lay claim to authority but they did give a reason for taking the time to tell you what things mean in probably their own native language; that reason was laid out in the second paragraph of the section with the heading 'What it is not'

I read this comment and thought "oh I have a friend that would love this guy."