On Monday 21 March 2011 21:19:16 Vaclav Mocek wrote: > On 03/21/2011 06:19 PM, Joe Zeff wrote: > > On 03/21/2011 10:16 AM, stan wrote: > >> And it > >> begs the question of*why* people might be deserting Fedora. > > > > No it doesn't; it *ASKS* the question. "Begging the question" is a > > logical fallacy. Please stop using that term like an illiterate moron, > > even if it is common usage. Just because the common herd uses it > > doesn't make it right and to those of us who know what it means it makes > > you sound like an ID10T. > > From my Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (2008): > > Idiom "beg the question" > > 1. to make somebody want to ask a question that has not yet been answered > "All of which begs the question as to who will fund the project." > > 2. to talk about something as if it were definitely true, even though it > might not be > "These assumptions beg the question that children learn languages > more easily than adults." > > > I am confused; it is an idiom, which is a part of Standard [British] > English and the previous usage seems to be correct. No need to be confused :-) . The idiom is (as you found out) completely ok and Stan used it properly. It's just that Joe Zeff apparently has a bad day today. ;-) Or maybe he has something personal against Stan and uses a public list to pass on a couple of personal insults. Or maybe he considers all people who use British English a common herd of illiterate morons who sound like ID10Ts to people who prefer some non-British dialect of English. Or maybe something else... ;-) Simply put, this situation basically begs the question why Joe Zeff has a problem with the usage of "beg the question". ;-) But all this is getting too OT... :-) Marko -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
