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Re: OT: Proving the rule (was Re: OT: Russian in ASCII?)

From:Jean-François Colson <fa597525@...>
Date:Wednesday, January 7, 2004, 20:43
----- Original Message -----
From: "Benct Philip Jonsson" <bpj@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 8:17 PM
Subject: Re: Proving the rule (was Re: OT: Russian in ASCII?)


> At 15:26 7.1.2004, Christophe Grandsire wrote: > > >The expression is 'the exception that proves the rule', and harkens back > >to an older meaning of 'prove' and 'proof' of 'test'. Though along with > >the changed definition of 'prove', the saying's been misanalysed as > >meaning what you said. > > > >Strange. In French the saying has always been "l'exception qui confirme
la
> >règle", never *"qui prouve la règle". > > In Swedish it is _undantaget som bekräftar regeln_, > and _bekräfta_ means 'confirm and nothing else. > What's the Dutch BTW?
"De uitzondering die de regel bevestigt" where "bevestigen" means "to confirm". Jean-François Colson jfcolson@belgacom.net