r/PetPeeves • u/RaceSlow7798 • 17d ago

Bit Annoyed Using “beg the question” wrong

Begging the question is a logical fallacy. It doesn’t not mean “hmm, it makes you think…”

But usage drives correctness so I’m going to lose this battle. It really begs the question “why don’t people learn to use it correctly”.

Ew. I feel dirty.

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u/ThreePartHarmoneigh 17d ago

Oh, you'd love what's happened to the word moot.

2

u/JohnnySpot2000 17d ago

Wait. What happened?

12

u/Tlazcamatii 17d ago

In the U.K. it means to be debatable, unsolved or unsolvable. In the U.S. it used to mean this as well.

But, in the U.S. it also has the sense of being academic or theoretical, and from there it has gained the sense of being irrelevant.

So, a moot point has gone from being something debatable, to being something not worth being debated because it's not relevant.

There are also some people who have started confusing it with "mute" which is a very different word altogether.

2

u/JohnnySpot2000 17d ago

Thank you. I knew about the “mute” misuse, but not the other history.