What does the expression "the exception that proves the rule" mean???

Question

I know the other expression. I just heard this one today.

Answer 1

My grandmother used this expression all the time. What she meant was that if you have to dig really hard to find the exception, or the exception is very narrow/limited, it goes to show the power of the general rule being true.

So, if the rule is "fruit do not contain any fat" -- and you say -- "but what about Avocados" she would respond -- "the exception proves the rule... ie, yes, there is one well known exception -- and the only reason you know it is because the rule is otherwise totally true... thus proving the rule.

I can't say the approach is 100% logical, but that is what it means :-)

Answer 2

hey, sturdy question. that is humorous that i've got been thinking the comparable component at the instant while dealing with some common sense and so on. that is what it appears like: That the exception is an remoted incident which violates the guideline tells us some thing substantial, notably because of the fact this is 'remoted'. what's substantial is that in case you have 2 exceptions, you now not have a rule. yet that is for later. If all issues proportion some supplies 'x', we would be tempted to assert that this is a rule that issues have 'x'. whether, with the intention to teach some thing we choose a counterfactual of a few style. in case you won't be able to teach that the rest has another supplies, the suitable you may say is that all and sundry issues "so a techniques" have the valuables 'x'. on the different hand, if we are able to % out an "remoted actuality", enable's say 'F', that does in actuality have the valuables 'y' incredibly of 'x', then we've a rule. If 'y' is in actuality a) remoted (it happens as quickly as and in simple terms as quickly as) and b) a actuality (i.e. all of us comprehend that is unquestionably authentic), then we are able to assert here: all issues aside from 'F' have the valuables 'x'. this is a rule and that is proved via exhibiting that there is in simple terms one exception. Now, enable's say we've 2 exceptions. All we would desire to probable have for that reason is a typical coaching, yet unquestionably not a rule. the suitable we would desire to get away with asserting is that "maximum" issues have the valuables 'x'. If we've 2 exceptions, then we've not any way of telling if there are extra. the full thought centers around the assumption of an 'remoted' exception. If there is in simple terms one exception, then the guideline applies to each thing else, perpetually. i comprehend that would have been slightly convoluted, yet i'm hoping it facilitates. (finally, this is a controversy of common sense, which could continuously get particularly sticky.)

Answer 3

It's a stupid expression. Since 'every rule has an exception', having an exception proves that the rule is true--most of the time.

Answer 4

"The exception proves the rule," as the quotation books usually phrase it. They say it comes from the medieval Latin aphorism Exceptio probat regulam. Probat means "prove" in the sense of "test," as in "proving ground" or "the proof is in the pudding." So "the exception proves the rule" means a close look at exceptions helps us determine a rule's validity.

For rest, u better check the source link,...

Answer 5

it means that if everyone is doing sumthing you need atleast one person not doing it for it to be a rule.. the Exception. Like if you have 10 people who are nympho maniacs, then everyone is a nympho.. but if you have 10 people but one is not a nympho and 9 are, then that one person who is not a nympho proves the rule that most people are nymphos... hard to understand, but thats it. lol

Answer 6

i thought the expression was - "the exception to the rule" - meaning not all are the same always...now if you are right about the phrase - it doesnt make any sense to me