Charly Baker wrote:
I'm with you. We who practise logic have a responsibility to respect its lexicon. "Question" in BTQ doesn't refer to an interrogative as it does in "raising the question", but rather it refers to the proposition under debate, as "putting the question" does in parliamentary usage. Those who use "beg the question" as if it were synonymous with "raise the question" are following the mindless herd who mistakenly believe this to be a more sophisticated usage. It isn't. It just relects another popular but ignorant misconception.
Charly Baker
Are you referring to our much revered politicians and even more revered celibrities, media moguls, bishops, movie stars, captains of industry and the like as "the mindless herd"? I've heard of a troop of apes, but never a herd, so that's totally unfounded --- I take that back after contemplating it for a microsecond longer. Spoken English is often a hotch-potch of whatever drivel comes out of the mouth, OK as long as it has a certain arrangement of say-nothings, but it's based on useage. In either case cited above, none of us will be seen rushing for a thesaurus in order to understand what is meant. Regards Sid. -- Sid Boyce ... Hamradio License G3VBV, Keen licensed Private Pilot Retired IBM Mainframes and Sun Servers Tech Support Specialist Microsoft Windows Free Zone - Linux used for all Computing Tasks