Quote:
Originally Posted by Clodfobble
Speaking of, I saw this the other day, and it reminded me of you:
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Misusing "begging the question" reminds me of grocer's apostrophes, "open all nite" signs, being unable to correctly use "affect" and "effect" or "loose" and "lose", or writing things like "for all intensive purposes".
That a usage is common doesn't make it correct. Claims that "the language is dynamic" are used too often to cover frank ignorance.
That some twit heard the phrase "begging the question" and assumed incorrectly that he knew what it meant doesn't actually create a new meaning identical with "raising the question".
Somehow I doubt we'd be better off using "petitio principii" in place of "begging the question".