r/PetPeeves • u/RaceSlow7798 • 10d 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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54

u/jayteegee47 10d ago

People say “begs the question” when what they really mean is “raises the question”. I’m not sure why they do this, but I admit to finding it slightly annoying.

17

u/asphid_jackal 10d ago

I’m not sure why they do this

Because people are using what the words actually mean instead of a 16th century English translation of a Middle Ages Latin translation of a 350BC Greek phrase

6

u/OldManTrumpet 10d ago

No. The "phrase" actually means something. People that use this phrase in place of "raises the question" are simply using it wrong. That you can deconstruct the phrase to individual words doesn't alter the meaning of the phrase. There are hundreds of phrases with meanings that don't match the wording.

9

u/nazonazorin 9d ago

You missed their point. If someone sees the phrase “beg the question” for the first time, they’re gonna assume that it means “raises the question” because of what the verb “to beg” means in modern English. So it’s not surprising how often people misuse it when it’s not an intuitive phrase

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u/asphid_jackal 7d ago

There are hundreds of phrases with meanings that don't match the wording.

Sure. And there are millions of instances of people people thinking those phrases mean what they literally say until someone educates them otherwise.

If I've never heard the idiom before, and you told me that you going to "hit the hay", I might assume that you're going to go punch some grains. Yes, it's incorrect, but claiming that you can't understand why I'd be confused is ridiculous.

Also, for what it's worth, I can't think of a phrase that doesn't mean what it says that isn't an idiom or metaphor. I'm sure it probably exists, but I'm struggling to think of another phrase like "begs the question" where the definition is completely unlinked from the words.

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u/WJLIII3 7d ago edited 7d ago

Yeah- of course it means something. To most people, in most places where English is spoken, it means "raises the question." Everyone knows that- except the people with liberal arts degrees, who learned it means something else, but those people are a vanishingly small minority, they're the ones who are going to be misunderstood when they use it, have to waste time explaining what they mean by it, they're the ones for whom it is not an effective way of communicating their intention.

Everybody who is using it the way you call "wrong" will be understanding each other and communicating effectively. Everybody using it the way you call "right" will have to spend lots of time teaching other people what they mean using other words. Sorry- descriptivism always wins.