Grammar girl here, today I'm going to beg the question.

Ellen Swarthmore said she'd appreciate it if I'd talk about the misuse of the phrase

begs the question.

I keep seeing it as a way to say the question begs to be asked, or the question that should

be asked, she says, well Ellen you're right, you do hear it used to mean raises the question,

but that's not what it really means.

Next the question is actually a term that comes from logic, and it's used to indicate

that someone's made a conclusion based on a premise that lacks support.

It can be a premise that's independent from the conclusion, or in a simpler form it can

be a premise that's just a restatement of the conclusion itself.

For example, let's say Squiggly's trying to convince Ardvark that chocolate is helpful,

and his argument is that chocolate grows on trees, so it must be helpful.

Ardvark could rightly say there's no proof that something is good for you simply because

it grows on a tree.

Some things that grow on trees are poisonous, trying to bury tree fruit, for example.

So Squiggly's argument is based on a faulty assumption.

Ardvark could correctly say that Squiggly's argument begs the question.

What does growing on trees have to do with being healthful anyway?

I remember what begs the question means by thinking that the argument raises a specific

question.

It begs the question, what's your support for that premise, or more informally, what

does that have to do with anything?

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