Hacker News Reader

Comment by arcfour | Hacker News Reader

It doesn't beg the question, it raises it. Begging the question is a type of logical fallacy in which you assume the truth of your conclusion. It doesn't mean something "begs for the question to be asked."

I have no idea why this incorrect use of the term drives me so nuts; however, you'd think a blog post about English words and Wordle wouldn't make this mistake.

View on HN

I agree with you. But it's clear that "begging the question" is going the way of "literally," and there's (sadly) nothing we can do about it.

I suppose some time in the future, someone will invent a new phrase meaning "assuming your conclusion".

Well, I for one won't be party to it. I think informing everyone I can is my drop in the bucket in the fight against the incorrect usage of words. :-)

When you win that battle, would you please fight iOS predictive text vs proper apostrophe use next?

assuming your conclusion, why would we need a new phrase?

At what point did dictionaries providing descriptive views of the English languages turn into a prescriptive one that emboldens people to just point to repeated wrong usage rather than admit they were wrong?

I think the idea was NYT was trying to imply they were running out.

To me, "begging the question" doesn't mean assuming the conclusion in particular, it just means that some of the premises used are less obvious than they are being passed off as. Assuming the conclusion is merely an especially egregious form of that.

I was objecting to the incorrect use of the phrase at the end of the article.

Yeah I don't think it is incorrect. The NYTimes to me does imply they are running out, because the alternative reasons are a bit more condescending to the users and/ or more subjective. So it begs the question in it looks like the NYTimes is hiding their motivate, which is at the very least not so trivial after all.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com