Yet Another Reason Why I Never Sleep Well

Although I once wrote, to one of the very few bloggers whose intellect I admire, that I now view the phrase "begging the question" as burnt flesh, meaning, of course, that its misuse is now so prevalent that reinstating its original -- and still correct -- meaning is no longer possible, I was still reeling this weekend from its misuse by two men who should know better when I found myself listening, on NPR, to a program about religion, a program which inspired me to go to Amazon and order -- two-day free shipping via one click! -- The Seven Storey Mountain, and when I heard the author being interviewed say that people liked Thomas Merton because he was "not pietistical," after I stopped swearing and regained control of my vehicle, I returned home and did some research and learned that the descriptivist bastards who now edit dictionaries have decided that "pietistical" is a perfectly splendid word, even though -- the existence of Pietism notwithstanding -- it means nothing more nor less than "pious," especially in the context of said interview, and even though, if one were able to make a legitimate distinction, "pietistic" would still be infinitely preferable, and as I wept bitter tears over the slow and agonizing death -- at the hands of, among many other culprits, suffix creep -- of the mother tongue, I thought to myself, "I will not be able to write about this in the blog unless I post a particularly salacious picture to go with it," so here, for your viewing enjoyment, is a picture that you are welcome to ogle if and only if you promise to refrain from misusing any form of "begs the question" for a period of no less than six months.