

What's the meaning of "That's the exception that proves the rule?" - staunch
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/731/whats-the-meaning-of-the-expression-thats-the-exception-that-proves-the-rule

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Hominem
I'm not so sure I agree. I think it is saying "if you have to think hard, and
can only come up with one counterexample, there is pretty much a rule"

It isn't for things like provable facts, it is for things like "only men win
best director oscars". If you gotta dig to come up with a couple
counterexamples the statement is pretty much right.

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rcthompson
This is how I've always understood it a well. Additionally, often the nature
of the given exception shows what great lengths one must go to in order to
break the rule.

Example: "I never run into traffic on my way home. Except for that one time
when the bridge collapsed."

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felipeoc
In this case, the "exception" is not an exception to the rule. It's an
exception of the object to which the rule applies.

Let's say we have a rule that is said to be valid for all mammals. To prove
the rule ("make it more likely" to be strict) we should check it for
exceptional mammals like the whale (a huge mammal that lives in the water).
When the rule applies for these cases, the rule is more likely to be true
cause people that make rules tend to overlook exceptional/extreme cases.

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toddh
Perhaps it means that it is impossible to create a rule that applies to a
category without exception, real life is much more nuanced than that. So if
you think you have such a rule, that is always valid, as people often do, we
know it's a bad rule. A rule only becomes a good rule once the exception is
found because that means it is a rule that has a hope of succeeding in an ever
evolving real life.

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wr1472
I think Nassim Taleb's Black Swan book gives examples of the exception proving
the rule a few times. Unfortunately I don't have the book to hand to provide a
direct quote.

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sliceof314
prove used to mean test. Hence, that's the exception which tests the rule.

in fact, that meaning survives in the phrase "proving ground"

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stbullard
This is a masterful parody of sophistry.

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zotz
There are no even prime numbers, except for 2.

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Herring
And 2 is very odd.

