I may be behind the curve on this one, but an expression seems to be coming into vogue that may soon be as omnipresent as “oxymoron” has been the past few years: “begging the question.” Years used to go by without my hearing or reading this expression, but in the past few weeks I have read it in the newspaper or heard it on the radio at least a dozen times. And, interestingly enough, just like “oxymoron”, it has been incorrectly used every time I have heard it. (Or, if you are one of those people who do not believe that words have “correct” or “incorrect” meanings, used in a way at variance with the traditional dictionary meaning.) And OT. do any of you who follow baseball recall the expression “crooked numbers” being used before this year?
You’re definitely behind the curve. People have been incorrectly using “begs the question” for “brings up the question” for years. Actual “Begging the question” is slowly being replaced with “circular reasoning.”