Notably, it does not mean what the logical grouping of those words would mean: "begs for the question to be asked".
Of course, I believe I've seen "begs the question" used correctly exactly never, and there's an obvious need for a pithy idiom for "begs for the question to be asked", but we don't really have one.
This once again awakens my suspicions that the English language is an elaborate practical joke. And I say that as a native speaker.
The misuse of "irony" is another one of those situations that seems to show that there's a missing word in the English language.
To take one specific example from Alanis, (yes I'm going there), there's something peculiarly funny about "ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife" in a way that wouldn't be if you had "ten thousand turtles when all you need is a knife". I think we needed a word for "bittersweet happenstance", and people wrongly latched onto "irony".
Which is presumably where the confusion with irony (as a stand-alone word) comes from.
Interestingly enough, the term exists in a literal translation in other languages, too: "Ironie des Schicksals" in German, "ironie du sort" in French, and "ironia della sorte" in Italian.
It's just a way of filling time and distancing yourself from the question. Irregardless of pendantry about the definition you usually improve your sentence by just leaving it out.
Of course, I believe I've seen "begs the question" used correctly exactly never, and there's an obvious need for a pithy idiom for "begs for the question to be asked", but we don't really have one.
This once again awakens my suspicions that the English language is an elaborate practical joke. And I say that as a native speaker.