This is the discussion Esteemed Wife and I have every time I go off half-cocked
at a real or perceived abuse of language. I understand that language is a
fluid, evolving thing. Even the French can’t stop it. <wink toward Philippe!>
But that does not mean we should stop piling up sandbags against the floods of
misuse. I am sure that even before my sloughing off this veil of tears,
“begging the question” will have been accepted as the correct usage. In fact,
not so long ago I heard an actual example of the aforementioned fallacy, and
turned to Joan and said “_That’s_ begging the question.” Did I mention my wife
has a lovely, indulgent smile? <g>
But just because evolution is inevitable does not mean the strong hearted and
stubborn amongst us must to gentle into that dark night of misuse and abuse.
--Bob Whitmire
Certified Neanderthal
On Mar 1, 2015, at 9:40 AM, Scott Gomez <sgomez.baja@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> English, as with any language still spoken, is dynamic. If a majority of
> speakers of a language adopt a different use of a word, phrase or
> construction in that language, the new use will become "correct" by default.
>
> Most kinds of change in nature seem to be 'edge (or boundary) effects'.
> Growth, decay, erosion--all occur most rapidly at or along edges. I don't
> think it's different for many (indeed, most) of the things done by people.
> Changes to language are most often made by those on the fringes--'edge
> cases'--perhaps from lack of education, perhaps simply because it's fun to
> do, perhaps because they know damn well that doing so tweaks the
> 'establishment' in a manner that can't be punished and often endures.
>
> Sometimes a change catches on, and, eventually, that change is "officially"
> incorporated by updates to dictionaries and style guides. But official
> recognition is inherently backward-looking: by the time it occurs, most
> speakers will already have made the shift.
--
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