Which beggars the question

Well, Ellen, you're right. You do hear it used to mean "raises the question," but that's not what it really means. The Right Way to Use "Begs the Question" Begs the question is actually a term that comes from logic, and it's used to indicate that someone has made a conclusion based on a premise that lacks support 1, 2. It can be a premise that's independent from the conclusion 3 or in a simpler form, the premise can be just a restatement of the conclusion itself 4, 5.

For example, let's say Squiggly is trying to convince Aardvark that chocolate is healthful, and his argument is that chocolate grows on trees, so it must be healthful. Aardvark could rightly say there's no proof that something is good for you simply because it grows on a tree. Some things that grow on trees are poisonous--Chinaberry tree fruit, for example 6.

So Squiggly's argument is based on a faulty premise. Aardvark could correctly say that Squiggly's argument begs the question. What does growing on trees have to do with being healthful, anyway? OR more informally, What does that have to do with anything? You use the phrase begs the question when people are hoping you won't notice that their reasons for coming to a conclusion aren't valid.

They've made an argument based on a lame assumption. For me, this begs — I mean raises — the question of to what extent we should continue to fight for English usage that no one seems to actually use. The counter argument is that, just because journalists can't be bothered to get something right, a term that might be useful — even, in a logical or philosophical context, essential — finds itself on the endangered list. When it dies, perhaps we are all a little impoverished.

Begging the question. How much should we fight for a correct English usage that no one actually seems to use? When should we stop fighting linguistic change and give in to popular usage? Search only containers. Search titles only. Search Advanced search…. Members Current visitors. Interface Language. Log in. Install the app. Forums English Only English Only. Given the nature of the Supreme Court's work, you could imagine how such "misusage" could get on Scalia's nerves day after day.

Scalia's insistence on a single, correct meaning of "beg the question" is unsurprising when you consider his conservatism.

He preferred old meanings, not newer ones — originalism, fixed meaning. When it came to the Constitution, Scalia's view was that interpretation of the law should be based on what people living at the time of its adoption would have said the meaning was. But as is the case with "beg the question," words change their meanings. One rather famous example, which Garner revealed to Scalia, was " nimrod. Thanks to Bugs Bunny, the cartoon character, to anyone born after , it means "idiot" or "dummy.

You might think twice before using "begging the question," especially in formal writing or public speaking. You could skip it altogether and go with "evade the question" or "raise the question," depending on which meaning you want, the older or the newer, respectively. But if you want to carry on Scalia's legacy, you could insist on the "circular argument" meaning — and even hand out little cards to abusers of the phrase.

For you.