They don't really mean it

No contest

Arguably the finest footballer ever. Arguably the best deal going. Arguably the fastest car in the world.

They don’t really mean that, do they? You just know, from the way they say it, they mean unarguably. Arguable means you can argue about it. The claim is up for discussion or debate. But they don’t mean ‘debatably the best footballer,’ or ‘debatably the finest artist’, or anything approaching that. They think the word arguable means ‘you can try arguing, but you won’t win.’ That’s why they mean ‘unarguable.’ There’s no argument about it.

What?

They say ‘begs the question’ when they mean ‘raises the question’. If you beg the question, you take, as part of an argument, an assumption which is unproven. You make a kind of circular argument. ‘Parallel lines don’t meet because they are parallel’ begs the question of parallel.

‘People died from lack of medical care’ doesn’t beg a question. But it might well raise the question ‘why were the medical services so unprepared?’

Broken English

The advertising industry – my own alma mater – is responsible for a great deal of damage to English. It’s a result of hiring creative teams who are almost, but not quite, clever. 
I am currently often exhorted to buy some brand of car and, in consequence, ‘break the mould’. That I cannot for the life of me remember what brand they wish me to buy is a clear and simple indication of just how useless their creative efforts are.
But they don’t mean ‘break the mould’. They mean ‘break ranks,’ be different, break with habit or tradition. They could suggest I ‘break step’, or ‘step to a different drummer’ maybe. They could suggest I dare to be different. But they don’t actually mean me to break the mould.
To break the mould means to ensure that something is unique, that something cannot be repeated or replicated. ‘When they made him, they broke the mould,’ means he’s a one-off. The phrase comes from the business of sculpture. When a bronze sculpture was cast, the artist would – indeed, still does - ensure the foundry destroyed the mould. That preserved the uniqueness and value of the sculptor’s work.
If they ask me to buy their blasted car, and break the mould, they’d want me to be the last person to buy their car.

Given the sorry degree of literacy applied to their costly campaign, I probably would be.

… and why didn’t we see this coming?

‘A dramatic downturn was forecasted as long as six months ago.’

No it wasn’t. It was forecast. The past tense of to forecast is forecast. When was the last time you heard a BBC announcer tell you that a programme was first broadcasted last week?

Arguable. Begs the question. Breaks the mould. Forecasted. None of these are signs of evolving language. They’re in-your-face indicators of our accelerating fall from literacy.

And it was the schools who stood back while the media pushed us.