"Begging the question."

It's just one of those pedantic things that bothers me. My dad knew what it meant and always used it correctly, so then it really grated when I got older and heard people misusing it. I have not once heard anyone other than my father use it properly, so it annoys me that people always get it wrong.

People generally use it as a synonym of "raising the question." An example of raising the question would be "Why is my billion dollar suit always so grubby?" - that raises the question of why any sane person would spend a billion dollars on a suit. Raising the question doesn't need to be an actual question - "I have far too many lions in my library to be able to go in and borrow a book." That raises the question of why there are lions in your library.

Here's what begging the question actually means, illustrated with some examples:

"Is your red house on fire?" - It begs the question that I have a red house.

"Why are you so tall?" begs the question - am I tall? Imagine asking this question to a short person - that should make it clear what begging the question is.

"Why is the sky brown?" is begging the question, because the question assumes that the sky is brown. "Why is the sky blue?" is begging the question too, even though the assumption intrinsic in the question - that the sky is blue - is actually correct (during daytime anyway).

"Why do androids dream of electric sheep?" begs the question three times - once, do androids actually exist? Secondly, if so, do they dream? Thirdly, if they exist and can dream, do they dream of electric sheep? (OK, a more complicated one.)

So when you beg the question you are asking a question that is based on assumptions that you are taking as fact. When you raise the question, you state something that seems unusual and which leads to further questions.