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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread Begging the question #93447 01/27/2003 2:16 PM Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Faldage Carpal Tunnel Faldage Carpal Tunnel Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 From tsuwm's wwftd: Quinion notwithstanding, (http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-beg1.htm) I never heard begs the question used in a way that I would have interpreted as meaning raises the question. I've always interpreted the much maligned usage as meaning avoids the question. The idea that the question should be asked is merely a natural consequence of its being ignored, given the context of the situation in which it has been ignored. This usage (avoids the question) is well within the accepted definition of beg. See def 3a in AHD http://www.bartleby.com/61/4/B0160400.html. I do like his comment that the person who translated [petitio principii] made a hash of it. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Begging the question #93448 01/27/2003 6:22 PM Joined: Apr 2000 Posts: 10,542 this too shall pass tsuwm Carpal Tunnel tsuwm Carpal Tunnel Joined: Apr 2000 Posts: 10,542 this too shall pass well, here's the usage that triggered this for me (again): The facts continued to beg the question: Did the long arm of Adolf Hitler reach across the sea and into this noisy little American beach town? Had the Nazis hounded this troubled American of German blood until he'd finally put a bullet through his [own] head? "You'll have to ask Hitler when you see him," said the sheriff. "As far as I'm concerned, it's an open-and-shut case." (from _Two O'clock Eastern Wartime_, a period thriller by John Dunning) no avoiding the question here, just a device for raising it. it sounded paritcularly false in this WWII setting. but this is the kind of usage I hear or read frequently. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Begging the question #93449 01/27/2003 6:25 PM Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Faldage Carpal Tunnel Faldage Carpal Tunnel Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Boy, howdy. That'd rankle my geezer if I heard it used that way. Good thing I ain't never. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Begging the question #93450 01/28/2003 2:17 AM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 1,819 Spam Factory Alex Williams Pooh-Bah Alex Williams Pooh-Bah Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 1,819 Spam Factory I'm glad to see this question brought up because I have always wondered a little at the correct use of it. I have had this fuzzy notion that it meant not only avoiding the question but dodging it using some sort of faulty logic. e.g. "Why did the chicken cross the road?...[you know the rest]" Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Begging the question #93451 01/28/2003 11:35 AM Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,692 UK dxb Pooh-Bah dxb Pooh-Bah Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,692 UK There are a number of sites dealing with ‘begging the question’, some probably better than this, but this was the most amusing (the only one even slightly amusing?): http://www.roomours.co.uk/ryder3.htm Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. (have been... ------  Words from medicine  Beheading words  Meta-words  Words from classical mythology  Animal Safari  Words with unusual etymologies  Eponyms or words derived from p...  Loanwords from German  English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Threaded Mode Show Likes Link Copied to Clipboard View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary

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