Secondhand Smoking Jacks: More begging the question

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

From writers who ought to know better: Cal Thomas, Robert Scheer, and (this one hurts) Peggy Noonan.

love johnson said...: This post/subject REALLY begs this question:

have you considered the possibility that everyone else is right and you are wrong??

uh uh...didn't think so.; April 12, 2006 at 3:50:00 PM CDT
Michael said...: Nope; April 12, 2006 at 4:55:00 PM CDT
Scooter said...: Michael is absolutely correct here.

Begging the Question means employing circular logic in defense of a position...not "raising a question."

I'm no wordsmith but in the last 20 years or so this mis-usage has become commonplace. Wrote to the WSJ last Thursday when he first raised the Peggy Noonan use of the term. Alas, no reply.; April 12, 2006 at 8:40:00 PM CDT

Secondhand Smoking Jacks