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Episode Transcript

Begs the Question
Episode 127: August 19, 2008

Grammar Girl here.

Today I'm going to beg the question.

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Ellen at Swarthmore said she would appreciate it if I 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.

The Right Way to Use "Begs the Question"

Begs the question is actually a term that comes from logic, and it's used to indicate that someone has made a conclusion based on a premise that lacks support (1, 2). It can be a premise that's independent from the conclusion (3) or in a simpler form, the premise can be just a restatement of the conclusion itself (4, 5).

For example, let's say Squiggly is trying to convince Aardvark that chocolate is healthful, and his argument is that chocolate grows on trees, so it must be healthful. Aardvark 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--Chinaberry tree fruit, for example (6). So Squiggly's argument is based on a faulty premise.

Aardvark 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 THEE 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? You use the phrase begs the question when people are hoping you won't notice that their reasons for coming to a conclusion aren't valid. They've made an argument based on a lame assumption. The question is What's your support for that premise?

Here's an example of a simple argument that begs the question. This one just restates the conclusion as a basis for the conclusion: Chocolate is healthful because it's good for you. That begs the question. How do you know chocolate is good for you? Again, the question is What's the support for your premise? or What does that have to do with anything? If I didn't just accept that chocolate is healthful, I'm not going to accept that it's healthful because you say it's good for me. They're the same thing. Make a better argument.

The Wrong Way to Use "Begs the Question"

Sadly, begs the question is used wrong a lot. It took me about two seconds to find good examples of bad usage in the news. Many people mistakenly believe it's OK to use the phrase to introduce a clever or obvious question. For example,

After chronicling Natalie Coughlin's accomplishments, a reports writes: "All of which begs the question, is Coughlin the best female swimmer this country has ever seen?" The reporter is using begs the question to mean something like "makes me wonder."

Here's an example from another paper:

"Board members’ explanations to the public grow more and more vague. This begs the question: What is going on in the minds of these officials who were appointed to serve us?" Again, the reporter seems to think begs the question means something like "makes me wonder" or "leads us to ask."

Common Usage Versus Established Meaning

In fact, that wrong usage is so common some people will argue it's not an error anymore (7). But I'm firmly in the camp that believes it's worthwhile to stick to the formal definition. There are plenty of phrases writers can use when they mean "makes me wonder" or "raises the question." There's no hole in the English language that needs to be filled, so there's no reason to use begs the question improperly.

The quick and dirty tip is to remember that when something begs the question, it begs the question: what is your support for that premise?

Administrative

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You can reach me, Grammar Girl, at quickanddirtytips.com, where you'll find the grammar quiz widget and the free e-mail newsletter with grammar tips. If you sign up for the newsletter before August 31, you'll also be entered to win $300 and a signed copy of my new book, Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. People have been writing in to tell me that they not only enjoyed reading it the first time but are also keeping it on their desks as a handy reference guide.

Finally, this week the Small Biz Tech Girl and Get-It-Done Guy are tackling a great topic: how to manage all those social networks you've joined. Check it out and thanks for listening.

References

1. Garner, B. Garner's Modern American Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2003, p. 91.
2. Safire, W. "ON LANGUAGE: Take My Question." The New York Times. July 26, 1998. http://tinyurl.com/6bd2g6 (accessed August 17, 2008).
3. Cochrane, J. Between You and I. Sourcebooks, Inc.:Naperville, Illinois. 2004. p. 11-12.
4. "Fallacy: Begging the Question." The Nizkor Project. http://tinyurl.com/3om69 (accessed August 17, 2008).
5. Brians, P. "Begs the Question." Common Errors in English Usage. http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/begs.html (accessed August 17, 2008).
6. "Poisonous Plants." Poison and Drug Information Center, University of Arizona. http://tinyurl.com/6ad889 (accessed August 17, 2008).
7. "beg." Merriam-Webster Online. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beg (accessed August 17, 2008).

Comments (13) for Begs the Question | Subscribe to Comment

Pete Says:
11/10/2008 8:18:21 PM

It looks like henry agrees with the misinformed journalists who involve themselves with misused phrases 'in speech and print'. It's an annoying misuse of words, especially when 'raises the question' really isn't that much harder to say..

henry Says:
11/7/2008 11:37:26 AM

I disagree on this one. The common usage of "begs the question" is "raises the question", both in speech and in print. I wouldn't go so far as to say that the common usage is wrong when most people are using it that way; the very same reason why I wouldn't say that a person is wrong when he spells "color" as "colour". Please, just accept that there are 2 definitions and move on!

Phylisa Carter Says:
10/22/2008 5:16:46 PM

Grammar Girl, "That kind of group-fueled nastiness must surely beg the question: Will white people riot if Obama wins?" Will White People Riot? The Root.com, Oct 22, 2008 On its face this use of the phrase "begs the question" looks incorrect, however if the article is read in its entirety, I would argue that the use of the phrase in this case falls under faulty premise. Can you read the article and give me your expert opinion. Good discussion, I learned something today.

Joyce Carpenter Says:
10/13/2008 9:47:57 AM

I greatly appreciate your effort to stamp out this error. However, I disagree with your description of the problem. You give 3 accounts of the nature of the problem, but only one of them is accurate. RIGHT: the premise can be just a restatement of the conclusion itself. WRONG: "a conclusion based on a premise that lacks support" That's a general description of fallacious arguments in which the premises are insufficient to prove the conclusion. It is not an accurate account of the particular fallacy under examination. WRONG: "a premise that's independent from the conclusion" Again, this is a general description of a problem, this time a problem of relevance between premises and conclusion. You say the term comes from logic, so please limit yourself to definitions from logicians (such as the Nizkor project) rather than perpetuating the sloppy accounts from grammarians (webster and safire).

noether Says:
9/20/2008 4:18:17 PM

I'm not sure why GG states that "You use the phrase 'begs the question' when people are hoping you won't notice that their reasons for coming to a conclusion aren't valid." Huh? When people put forth arguments that are based on a faulty premise, what right do we have to presume that they have ignoble intentions? They probably don't even realize that their logic is shoddy. It would be supercilious and disingenuous for us to respond as though we've just caught them in the act of trying to pull one over on us.

Mick Says:
8/24/2008 8:15:18 PM

petitio principii

SF Susan Says:
8/24/2008 11:40:46 AM

Thank you for doing an episode on "begs the question." I still remember the first time I heard that phrase misused (about 25 years ago) because it almost cost me my job. I was a temporary secretary and my boss asked me to type a document in which she had used "begs the question" to mean "raises the question." I carefully and (I think) politely told her what the phrase really meant, but she just got furious with me for trying to correct her writing. After that I began to notice the misuse of the phrase everywhere, especially on news broadcasts, and to this day it drives me crazy to hear it.

Don Says:
8/21/2008 4:39:32 PM

Thanks again for your great podcast! I loved today's podcast because my favorite classes in college were formal logic and rhetoric. The wrong use of "begs the questions" gets my biscuit (as they say)! I have a colleague who uses this phrase to mean everything from "the real question is..." to "is there any question that..." it is the most varied and strange use of the phrase I have ever come across. None of his uses are correct, by the way! Thanks for a good show.

Robert C. Davey Says:
8/21/2008 11:49:31 AM

Another good way to understand the informal fallacy of the begged question is to define it as "assuming the point at issue." Try this one: "Because we know Richard Cheney is the most competent of our recent Vice-Presidents, he should be honored in the Capitol's Statuary Hall." The conclusion about a Cheney statue is based on a point at issue, something on which we may not, in fact, agree. That's what makes the premise unworthy. Perhaps this raises the question of whether vice-presidential competence is of much importance. Listening to the radio this week brings that to mind. (Ah--begged question? Perhaps it brings it to my mind but not yours. And so on.)

Mecalith Says:
8/19/2008 9:51:37 PM

In place of using "begs the question” improperly I say begets the question.

Brandon Says:
8/19/2008 2:13:57 PM

It's funny that you should release this today. Just yesterday, I wrote "begs the question" in the wrong way on Facebook. For some reason, it seemed wrong to me, so I looked it up online, found that I was using it incorrectly, and changed it to "raises the question."

goofy Says:
8/19/2008 1:49:25 PM

The use of "beg the question" to mean "sidestep the question" dates from 1860. GG believes it's worthwhile to stick to the formal definition. But what is a "formal definition" and why is it more correct than how the phrase has been used for over 100 years? She doesn't say.

bigjohn756 Says:
8/19/2008 12:55:08 PM

Gosh! I can't begin to tell you how relieved and pleased I am by this particular podcast. This has been a problem for me for some time now. I hope that you don't mind if I send a link to you're/your* podcast to everyone I read or here/hear* using 'beg the question' incorrectly. Perhaps it will help them with there/they're/their* English. I don't know how long the phrase had been used like this. Not too long, I think, but, I am afraid that it is to/too* late to stop it now. *As I am sure you know, a random choice of these selections is acceptable in all blogs and blog comments, so, I put them all in and you get to chews/choose.