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

From:<jcowan@...>
Date:Wednesday, January 7, 2004, 15:56
Tristan McLeay scripsit:

> 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.
Naah. See .sig below. -- John Cowan jcowan@reutershealth.com www.reutershealth.com www.ccil.org/~cowan "The exception proves the rule." Dimbulbs think: "Your counterexample proves my theory." Latin students think "'Probat' means 'tests': the exception puts the rule to the proof." But legal historians know it means "Evidence for an exception is evidence of the existence of a rule in cases not excepted from."