It hurt me just to type the title of this post. This spelling-and-grammar-error combination is so egregious that I have to share the pain.
RollingStone.com headline of the day: “Who’s Hand Is Grabbing at Ricky Martin’s Junk? From glamazon Jennifer Lopez to the awkward man-hug between Mark Antony and Ricky, this picture begs a few questions.”
If you stop losing your lunch over the innocuous quality of the headline topic for a minute, I’d like to point out the misuse of who’s vs. whose and to beg the question. Who’s is the contraction of who is or who has, while whose is the possessive form of who (and sometimes which). Begging the question does not mean bringing up or raising a question. Those of you who have been on debate and oratory team, or simply understand logic, will know that begging the question is a term for the logical fallacy of assuming as true what you have set out to prove as true. For example, if your mother tells you that not wearing a coat in the wintertime is wrong because you ought always to wear a coat in the winter, she has committed the fallacy of begging the question. “Because I said so,” for instance, has no fallacious impllications and is a lot more effective.
My life will not be complete, however, until I’ve rid the world of people who use momentarily to mean “in a little while.” Gack!
That interesting. I thought it would be apropos for me to comment, since, ironically, I recently told a friend that the phrase “begs the question” is almost always misused. However, I would take issue with you on “momentarily.” I read somewhere that both usages of the word date back centuries. Supposedly, the insistence on the “for a moment” meaning only dates back to the late nineteenth century. At any rate, if the less preferred usage doesn’t lead to ambiguity, I tend to side with the descriptivists on usage matters. Still, I used to cringe whenever I’d hear an ex tell her daughter to go lay down.
Totally kick ass pic of my Mikey! I am still dying to know who all was there Friday night (who all? try that one on for grammar – heh heh). Loki reported that my dear son said, “You must be the internet people!”). I mostly hope he behaved himsef, worked hard and was gracious. Please report when you can. I may scam the photo for my blog. :D