Quote:
Originally Posted by Islander
At the risk of having a label stuck on me, I’m going to maintain that words mean something. Let’s take an example that’s less trivial than media, since the example I chose doesn’t lose the original meaning when misused — it just irritates. But how about “begging the question”? This is a rhetorical device in which you deliberately assume the truth of an unproven statement and then proceed to argue from that erroneous assumption. It’s an effective strategy in arguments. But lately I see “begging the question” or “begs the question” used to mean, simply, “asks the question.” Fine, I understand what you’re trying to say, but you are butchering a valuable phrase — a tool frequently used in arguments and debates. Once we defer to the “ask the question” interpretation, the original meaning will be lost...as will that tool. Reading an argument in which one writer accuses another of begging the question will baffle a future generation of readers once the shift in meaning has become commonplace. Language will have generated confusion and befuddlement.
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It's hard for me to get behind stuff like this, because for the most part phrases like that just aren't taught anymore. People 'learn' it by hearing/reading it somewhere. If they misunderstand the context, then anyone that learns it from them will continue using it incorrectly. Thanks to the internet, this stuff spreads even more rapidly (at least, that's how it seems).
Stuff like "they're / there / their" and "you're / your" are specifically taught (and pretty damn early on, too), so I have no sympathy for those that misuse them. But little-used and outdated terminology, well, on one hand I'd like that stuff to retain its original meaning, but on the other hand it's the perfect example of how language evolves and changes over time.