The exception that proves the rule

Also, the title of this thread is going to be parodied by Bapu. 

sharke
I've never been happy with this idiom, it doesn't make sense to me at face value. I've always just shrugged my shoulders when I've heard it. 
 
But I was bothered by someone saying it today and decided to look it up. It turns out that it originates from the old meaning of prove - "to test," so that the exception in question tests the rule. 
 
It can also mean an exception the existence of which proves that a general rule exists. Wikipedia gives by way of an example "a sign that says “parking prohibited on Sundays” (the exception) “proves” that parking is allowed on the other six days of the week (the rule)"
 
So glad I've gotten that cleared up! 

But as a rule, I don't think the people who use the idiom in question know any of this, so... 

 
 
Becan kittens
 
 
Kittens monkeys becan steeeeeenkin badges
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
It
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
There....  I said it
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
becan
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
arse
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I like monkittens, ya 

 
Becan

sharke
Also, the title of this thread is going to be parodied by Bapu. 

I got nothin'
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
tonight.
 
 
 
Twomarry is an udder day.

True that Moshkito, but as for his last post I know he's lying...LOL

bapu
 

I got nothin'
 
 

I take exception when you try to rule.

bitflipper
My pet peeve is "I could care less". WTF does that mean?
 
"I couldn't care less" makes sense, but that's not the form the expression commonly takes.

Missing out the word "not" seems to be getting more and more fashionable.

Hence the confusion when someone looking for technical support/help says "I can get that to work" but keeps asking how to get it to work...

I thought it was a new thing, but I found an example from the late 1990s a few weeks ago. In an academic article no less.

backwoods
I used to get confused by the saying "a moot point" which means it's trivial, taken for granted, not worth debating. And then there are moot contests at law schools- debating teams :) 

"Moot" means "meeting" in Old English/Anglo Saxon. The moot was originally the gathering of all the people that would decide important issues and settle disputes, later as the many small English kingdoms merged into fewer larger ones it became the meeting to which representatives were sent rather than the entire population turning up. The equivalent of a "council" or "parliament" (witenagamot).

A moot point eventually came to mean something complicated, the details of which could be argued about for ever despite everyone basically agreeing on what needed to be done. Or everyone knowing that there's no point in discussing it, but some people are going to bang on for ages about it anyway.

Tolkien's entmoot is a good example of the process, and the outraged ents later forgetting all about their carefully debated decision and setting off to smash up Saruman anyway is an example of something being a "moot point".

(this service provided by trivia'r'us)

craigb

BobF
.
.
.

catch (Exception e) {
 console.printLine("Rule Proven!");
}

But what are you trying? 

It's super squirrel secret stuff ... 'finally'  ;)

Too bad there's all the scroll bars...  You're supposed to be able to view the code from a distance!
 

Whatever it is, I don't see it.
 
 
 
 

Phrases come and go ... my current least favorite is, "I know, right?"