On the use of "FML"

I have another Facebook-related public service announcement, you guys. And I'm pretty sure y'all are reasonable adults, so just take this as venting and not as criticism of you all or anything.

I strongly object to people using "FML." The kind of posts that people end with "fml" are, in my experience, not exactly related to life-ruining events. The post that set me off was about an acquaintance leaving her ill-trained and hyperactive dog home alone for twelve hours and the dog destroyed something, which was related in very irritated language and ended with "fml." Really? A dog destroying some cushions on your tacky-looking-anyway couch fucks your life? How about some goddamn perspective?

Here are a few examples of posts I'd be okay with seeing:
- OMG, rebels are breaking into my home and killing my family in front of me. FML.
- I live in a country that still considers women property and I can neither vote nor own land. FML.
- I was raped and am now being threatened by my own family with an honor killing. FML.
- I was victim of a hate crime supported by local law enforcement. FML.
- I was just diagnosed with stage four cancer. FML.

To be honest, this is the image that comes to mind when I read some stupid inconsequential whine about a minor irritation that ends with those letters:

I just feel like we don't really have an right to claim our life is fucked when we get a speeding ticket, you know?

What do you all think? Do you use "fml"? Do you object to it too?

On begging the question

I work for a publishing company. We have a staff of fully trained editors, the kind of people who laugh at jokes about punctuation. We also have a sales staff, people without a background in Latinate roots and so on, people who can't be convinced that it's a good idea for the editors to glance at the things we'll be sending to thousands of our clients. This leads to frustration.

So when we have an editors' meeting, I look forward to passing a meeting without gritting my teeth at whatever horrible things are going on, grammar-wise.

Today, however, we had an editors' meeting, and my teeth were gritted anyway. One of the editors said that something "begs the question" of why we hadn't done such-and-such. Thing is, "begs the question" does not mean "raises the question." Never has, and never will, no matter how many times people use it wrong.

"Begging the question" is a very specific logical fallacy. It's similar to circular reasoning. When one begs the question, one uses one's premise as proof for itself: "Paranormal phenomena exist because I have had experiences that can only be described as paranormal." 


I know that we can't all know every single thing there is to know about the English language. I just hate when my coworkers don't know the things I do. And I know an awful lot of things.


What grammar goofs drive you nuts? Have you ever misused "begs the question"? If so, do you promise to stop now that you know better?