On what authority does the author of this site tell me what things mean in my own native language?
Language evolves - things that start out as misunderstandings or errors become informal usage, then dominant usage, then the correct way.
Others stay misunderstandings or errors.
It pays to learn the correct way so you sound educated as you speak, and so other educated people don't automatically discount what you say, but there's little benefit in attempting to correct others.
That said, mis-using erudite words or phrases spoils the effect.
Yes, language does evolve. For example, American English has evolved in such a way that "beg the question" now means "raise the question" to the vast majority of people in the year 2017.
Forgive me, but I think you're in the minority of people who bristle at the contemporary usage of this phrase, which makes you come off as incredibly pedantic.
I literally could care less about "begs the question". The formal use can be depreciated - we're not likely to staunch that floe. But irregardless of my feelings, people who flaunt the official meaning and right "begs the question" in the increasingly common usage have the wrong affect - they sound like they're putting on heirs - "raises" or "brings up" each sound more naturist.
(Yes, that was fun. I hope you like it, too!)
Kind of like how "I could care less" actually means you don't care at all, despite the literal interpretation of the sentence meaning that you're capable of caring less, which means you DO care.
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master-that's all."
I've literally never seen a usage of "begs the question" that couldn't be immediately disambiguated by context.
But hey, if you want to use the wrong words, phrases, etc, then it's your right to do so. ...
Words mean things, but what they mean is a social phenomenon, not handed down from some authority.
You say while advocating for a mistranslation.
Should I start randomly using your and you're? If you can figure it out, what's the point of using the "correct" one?
Aren't you advocating for the "correct" use of "begging the question"? I'm just pointing out that such a use is also wrong.
> I thought I was advocating to keep everyone on the same page?
As if it actually confuses anyone.
> If you can figure it out, what's the point of using the "correct" one?
Because misspellings slow down comprehension. Using words in a different manner that both people understand doesn't.
I can see where you're coming from. It just sucks that this argument seems to be, "there is no right, get used to wrong shit". And I know, I know, you're debating whether it's wrong at all - but I can't help but feel when people say the exact opposite words than what they mean, it feels wrong. For example, "I could give a damn" vs "I couldn't give a damn" _(and variations of it)_. It's an almost hilariously opposite meaning to what the user intended, yet.. it's going to become the "right" meaning.
Is there no end in your eyes? When does this just start becoming broken English?
That's more understandable to object to because the words in a literal context are being misused. This is the creation of an idiom because of people misremembering the phrase. It's probably too late to stop, but idioms aren't created at a very rapid pace.
Begging the question is nearly the opposite situation. There exists an idiom where the words as taken literally are a mess, and people are using the same words, basically-correctly, to not mean that idiom.