Re: I understand the irritation...
I would argue that it's more pedantic to use "begging the question" to mean "demanding an answer to the question" than to use it as a bad translation of a dodgy translation of "ἐν ἀρχῃ αἰτεισθαι". And I certainly wouldn't consider "circular reasoning" a cumbersome phrase. (It may not cover exactly the meaning of Aristotle's term, and it certainly doesn't cover some early usages of the late Latin mangling, which have the sense more of taking as axioms statements which are not self-evident, but I think it does effectively cover most supposed pedantic usage of the past century).
Also, I'm not seeing much evidence that people are offended by renaming "master" branches. The contrary reactions seem to be predominantly frustration at a perceived change for change's sake, and people are presenting various cogent arguments as to why that's a bad thing.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
