Re: OT: Proving the rule (was Re: OT: Russian in ASCII?)
| From: | Jean-François Colson <fa597525@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, January 7, 2004, 20:43 |
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----- 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