> -----Original Message----- > From: Philip Hart [mailto:philiph at slac.stanford.edu] > Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 1:04 PM > To: Steve Brust > Cc: dragaera at dragaera.info > Subject: RE: duh! > > > > On Tue, 1 Feb 2005, Steve Brust wrote: > > > Okay, someone check me if I'm wrong--I also like it when someone > > corrects my English errors (one of many reasons I so adore Pamela), > > but I've always used that phrase in this sense: > > > > "Bush was elected primarily by the backing of such > industries as oil > > and major finance, which begs the question of who is served > by the war > > in Iraq." In other words, "begs the question" means > something like, > > "raises the question and simultaneously answers it." Is > this correct, > > or am I asking the poor phrase to do too much work? > > My guess is that prescriptivists like me and Mark will > consider that evil, descriptivists won't get the circular > part, and those in the middle will wonder what You mean - a > lose-lose-lose scenario unless You're trying to fly under the > radar smoothly as melted flax. > I think that looking at the context of usage there is no confusion about what the phrase means to those of us who are in the middle. I'm not going to interpret Steve as referring to a circular argument, but will always consider him to be referring to a question that begs to be asked. In the sense that Steve is accustomed to using it (a more specialized sense than just "raising" a question) there is also an intimation of an answer already in place, and that demanding that particular question is important because the answer will somehow cause problems for the questionee (?). This is just a more pointed, rhetorical usage of the phrase in its "raising" sense, not a genuine 3rd way of using the phrase, so I don't think it makes the issue any more confusing. I think we all win. Shawn