Subject: Re: [HM] "exception that PROVES the rule"
From: Ulrich Fahrenberg (uli@math.auc.dk)
Date: Thu Mar 02 2000 - 04:01:50 EST
On Wed, 1 Mar 2000, Kim Plofker wrote:
> The interpretation "the exception tests the rule", although it does
> seem to go back at least to the nineteenth century, is probably not
> the original meaning of the expression "the exception proves the rule."
Another argument for this would be that the german equivalent of the
phrase is "Die Ausnahme bestaetigt die Regel", meaning "the exception
establishes the truth of the rule" rather than "tests".
Regards
Ulrich Fahrenberg
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