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We already have a perfectly fine and valid phrase: "raises the question X". I guess there is a difference here between American and British English, not so muc

We already have a perfectly fine and valid phrase: "raises the question X". I guess there is a difference here between American and British English, not so much in what is formally accepted, but in common usage. American English seems to quickly adopt grammatically/syntactically/semantically incorrect phrases that become popular; "touch base" or "call out" or even "${X}gate" comes to mind.

Someone1234 11y ago
If you think British English is as pure as you claim maybe you haven't spent enough time outside of southern England or listened to too much BBC. Just go hang out with some chavs for twenty minutes, and I'm sure your world will be turned upside down. England is full of bad English speakers (and, no, that wasn't some jab at immigrants). In particular if you aren't middle class or above.
- semi-extrinsic 11y ago
  To clarify: I'm not actually British, but I have lived in England, and I'm perfectly aware that many people in England speak bad English. I was referring to written communications being at least semi-formal, like a professional blog post or a newspaper article, and I merely suggested that the appearance rate of neologisms is greater in AE than BE.
dragonwriter 11y ago
> English seems to quickly adopt grammatically/syntactically/semantically incorrect phrases that become popular If either of the uses of "begs the question" is more grammatically/syntactically/semantically incorrect, its the original transitive use, which is an abomination of failed translation into English, through Latin, of a straightforward Greek description which entirely fails to capture the meaning of the original and was an abuse of the English language at the time it was created. Its only claim to any kind of correctness is its history of use through which a clear understanding has developed despite its problems. Of course, the newer, transitive use also has a solid (though shorter) history of use, is clearly understood, and, moreover, is structurally distinct from the transitive use, so it doesn't create any ambiguity or confusion with that use.

Someone1234 11y ago

If you think British English is as pure as you claim maybe you haven't spent enough time outside of southern England or listened to too much BBC. Just go hang out with some chavs for twenty minutes, and I'm sure your world will be turned upside down. England is full of bad English speakers (and, no, that wasn't some jab at immigrants). In particular if you aren't middle class or above.

semi-extrinsic 11y ago
To clarify: I'm not actually British, but I have lived in England, and I'm perfectly aware that many people in England speak bad English. I was referring to written communications being at least semi-formal, like a professional blog post or a newspaper article, and I merely suggested that the appearance rate of neologisms is greater in AE than BE.

dragonwriter 11y ago

> English seems to quickly adopt grammatically/syntactically/semantically incorrect phrases that become popular If either of the uses of "begs the question" is more grammatically/syntactically/semantically incorrect, its the original transitive use, which is an abomination of failed translation into English, through Latin, of a straightforward Greek description which entirely fails to capture the meaning of the original and was an abuse of the English language at the time it was created. Its only claim to any kind of correctness is its history of use through which a clear understanding has developed despite its problems. Of course, the newer, transitive use also has a solid (though shorter) history of use, is clearly understood, and, moreover, is structurally distinct from the transitive use, so it doesn't create any ambiguity or confusion with that use.