Sometimes these things are peeves. I have a peeve about using "they" as a gender-neutral singular pronoun, but admit it doesn't have much effect on expressiveness.
In general, though, I feel that the more precisely we use language, the more expressive it can be. Begging the question is different from raising the question. If we allow that conflation, it then becomes more difficult or requires more words to express what "begging the question" really is.
>If we allow that conflation, it then becomes more difficult or requires more words to express what "begging the question" really is.
By analogy with Huffman coding, the meanings that are used less often should require more words to express than the more commonly-used meanings. And if you really want to express the meaning "assuming the premise", then you could just say "assuming the premise", instead of insisting on the "precision" of using a 16th-century mistranslation of petitio principii.
In general, though, I feel that the more precisely we use language, the more expressive it can be. Begging the question is different from raising the question. If we allow that conflation, it then becomes more difficult or requires more words to express what "begging the question" really is.