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It's not meaningless, it's precisely how it was/is used in law, e.g. see https://english.stackexchange.com/a/14213 https://english.stackexchange.com/a/14213, al
by Jun8 7y ago
It's not meaningless, it's precisely how it was/is used in law, e.g. see https://english.stackexchange.com/a/14213 https://english.stackexchange.com/a/14213, also see the Snopes answer: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/exceptional-proof/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/exceptional-proof/.
Two other idiomatic expressions that have similar confused usage are "proof is in the pudding" and "begs the question" (https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/246664/why-can-i-not-use-beg-the-question-to-mean-raise-the-question-grammatically https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/246664/why-can-i...)
- msla 7y ago> It's not meaningless, it's precisely how it was/is used in law I mean the current common meaning is meaningless; to wit: "Exceptions to the rule I just propounded make the rule stronger, as opposed to disproving it." > Two other idiomatic expressions that have similar confused usage are "proof is in the pudding" and "begs the question" The first is misquoted ("The proof of the pudding is in the eating" is immediately obvious) and the second is a horrible translation which would have gotten a failing grade in any school which taught Latin and which should be forgotten.