What should we do? Should we join the herd and use “beg the question” to mean “raise the question”? Or should we join the few, proud hold-outs who still use it in the old “assume the conclusion” sense, while complaining about the ignorant rabble who etc.? In my opinion, those are both bad choices. If you use the phrase to mean “raise the question,” some pedants will silently dismiss you a dunce, while others will complain loudly, thus distracting everyone else from whatever you wanted to say. If you complain about others’ “misuse,” you come across as an annoying pedant. And if you use the phrase to mean “assume the conclusion,” almost no one will understand you. So I recommend that you never use the phrase yourself, and that you cultivate an attitude of serene detachment in the face of its use by others.
—The Book Bench: The Next Question You Beg May Be Your Last : The New Yorker
