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From: ayse@netcom.com (Ayse Sercan)
Subject: Re: "Begs the question" abuse
Message-ID: <ayseE44FzB.J9t@netcom.com>
Organization: Blue Room Brewery and Press
References: <oq20bnwsyr.fsf@ambient.dr.lucent.com> <32DE753E.3837@reed.edu>
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 22:04:22 GMT
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Stuart Robinson <srobinso@reed.edu> wrote:
>Similarly, when people say "beg the question" to mean "leads
>(compellingly) to consideration of the question," they have not
>necessarily misused the phrase. Granted, they have not employed its
>technical meaning in debate, but I would submit that the meaning of the
>phrase among logic-choppers is as irrelevant to everyday English--which
>our francophile prescriptivist Larry Mulcahy would have policed by
>something equivalent to the French Academy--as the meaning of "pill" in 
>pharmacology.

Bullshit.

There's a difference between using a word differently in science than in 
vernacular discussion, but the examples given show a phrase being used 
two different ways in vernacular discussion.  One is WRONG.

Yes, WRONG.  I'll give you "they" as a singular, sex-neutral, third-person
pronoun, but to use "Begs the question" to mean both the correct "Offers
the item of contention as proof" and also the incorrect "Makes me want to
ask the question..." is as linguistically legitimate as Ebonics. 

-- 
                             ayse@netcom.com 
"In truth, the economic motive for implementing institutionalized
chumminess is so vile that it all but eradicates the sweetness of a smile
from a stranger."  -- The San Jose Metro rails against Safeway's policy of
being polite to customers. 
