Last week I misused a common phrase I thought I understood. But fortunately David Dawson let me know I was confused. The phrase is, “beg the question.”

Foolishly, I took it to literally mean asks the question or raises the question. But this is not the case. To “beg the question” is to assume what still has to be proved. A statement that “begs the question” is one that based on a questionable assumption. For example the statement, “Fax machines will probably be full color by 2010,” begs the question will fax machine even be in use in 2010?

David, thanks for setting me straight on “begging the question.”

I you are interested in an 800+ word, in depth analysis of “beg the question” check out the Wikipedia entry.

I overheard today’s word around our office drayage. It is a noun and it is the sum paid for use of a dray. Duh. So what is that? A dray is a utility cart used to haul heavy items. They can range in size from a small two wheeled hand cart for moving luggage or barrels to much larger carts pulled by a horse.

Now we don’t use drays at work but the term drayage is used in the shipping world for the freight charge to pickup and deliver an ocean container.

Oh and here is a sentence using drayage, “The cost of shipping from China isn’t that bad. It is the drayage that really pushes the costs up.”

Todays’ podcast is an easter wish from my mother. It is a poem by Langston Hughes

I dream a world where man
No other will scorn,
Where love will bless the earth
And peace its paths adorn.
I dream a world where all
Will know sweet freedom’s way,
Where greed no longer saps the soul
Nor avarice blights the day.
A world I dream where black or white,
Whatever race you be,
Will share the bounties of the earth
And everyone is free,
Where wretchedness will hang its head,
And joy, like a pearl,
Attend the needs of all mankind.
Of such I dream for our world!”

Happy Easter!

Welcome to the 100th Today’s Podcast!

I used to work at AT&T Broadband Labs and one of my favorite saying we had around the office was,“A couple of months in the laboratory can save a couple of hours in the library.”

I love this saying for two reasons one it reminds us that a lot was accomplished before you showed up. Check out the library or the Internet and you can learn a lot from others. The second reason is the statement speaks to a common truth- that people love to find things out for themselves, that many of us willing if not eager to spend in few months or years or decades learning and discovering for ourselves.

Today’s word, literally, is one I have debated including for several months. I wasn’t sure it was an interesting enough word. This week Andrew requested it and that confirmed it was interesting enough for two of us. I hope you enjoy.

What, at least for me and Andrew, makes literally interesting is how frequently it is misused. As Andrew mentioned in his email, not a day goes by that you don’t find someone using literally instead of figuratively.

Litterally is an adverb. It means actually, without exaggeration, word-for-word or in a literal sense. But it is so often used as though it means virtually. As in “Bruce Springsteen literally brought the house down with his encore.” Of course the house was still standing after Bruce’s encore so it didn’t literally come down.

Accroding to the American Heritage Dictionary this common misuse dates back at least a hundred years. Which begs the question how many years does a word have to be misused before it takes on the new meaning? Well according to Merriam-Webster literally has already taken on this misused meaning. A meaning that is quite nearly opposite the truer, more historical meaning.

Another reason I had been hesitant to cover literally in a podcast is because David Cross does a very hilarious bit on the word literally.