This is roughly the twentieth email I’ve received along these lines in response to my column yesterday:

Jonah,
Forgive me for being captious or a grammatical luddite. As I writer
I’m sure you’re much more aware of the veracular than I am. I love NR
for it class, which Florence King most exemplified. I wish you’d
write ‘raises the question’ instead of ‘begs the question’ in your
articles. As a geometry teacher (at the school your old colleage
Jessica Kelsey went to) I see my students beg the question constantly.
I plead with you to preserve its original meaning, that of using a
conclusion as a premise in an arguement.

Me: I was going to let it go but the email keeps coming in. So let me respond: This is a fair complaint in all ways but one. It is entirely inaccurate. I did not misuse the phrase. I criticized Amy Poeler for misusing it in the quote at the beginning of the column. Otherwise, I’m with ya.