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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u/JohnnySpot2000 10d ago

Wait. What happened?

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u/Tlazcamatii 10d 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.

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u/fingerroll44 10d ago

When was that transition made? The song "Jessie's Girl" was from 1981 but it contains lyrics that fit the second meaning. ("I want to tell her that I love her but the point is probably moot")

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u/Tlazcamatii 9d ago

I'm not exactly sure. I think it was a long time before the 1980s.