We Beg Your Consideration, LanguageMeisters...

Among the many pet peeves the language police report, the misuse of “beg the question” ranks fairly high. It’s an unfortunate circumstance in which the meaning of a word – beg – has changed over time, leading to a misunderstanding of the idiom.

The incorrect usage, which is now common even in the most respected newspapers, goes like this:

“So-and-so is just a boring celebrity, and it begs the question: why does the media keep covering her?”  The intention is “this raises the question” or “calls for the question”.  However, that’s not the original meaning of “begs the question.”

Here’s how several language authorities explain it.

"Begging the question" is a form of logical fallacy in which a statement or claim assumes the truth of the point being discussed, with no evidence. It’s sometimes described as circular reasoning.  The fallacy was described by Aristotle in his book on logic in about 350 BC. His Greek name for it was turned into Latin as petitio principii and then into English in 1581 as “beg the question”.

For example: “This painting is trash because it is obviously worthless.” Or “Lying is wrong because we should always tell the truth.”

Another common usage is an attempt to ignore the issue or avoid giving a straightforward answer.  Used in this sense, the word beg means "to avoid," not "ask" or "lead to." An example from the Idiom Dictionary:

“Asked about the government’s view on a single European currency, the prime minister contrived to talk for 10 minutes and still beg the question.”

So: to beg the question does not mean "to raise the question." Does it matter?  Don’t we know what folks mean when they use it incorrectly? 

It’s one of those evolving language issues that some people care about and others will let slide.  However, those in the first camp are passionate about it; you can even buy a t-shirt or coffee mug to help stamp out BTQ Abuse at http://begthequestion.info/.