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I think the intent behind the modern usage of "the exception that proves the rule" is that: a) the rule is a heuristic, not a hard-and-fast rule, and b) the n
by zamfi 5y ago
I think the intent behind the modern usage of "the exception that proves the rule" is that:
a) the rule is a heuristic, not a hard-and-fast rule, and
b) the notability of exceptions suggests that the heuristic is pretty good.
In other words, if the exception is, in fact, exceptional, it reinforces that the heuristic is reasonably valid for non-exceptional cases.
In this case, the fact that it took the intervention of the family-friend-who-works-at-Google-HQ to resolve a pay dispute is an exceptional circumstance, and reinforces that for most people, because presumably most people don't have a family friend who works at Google HQ, there is no recourse to pay disputes.
Hence, the exception—by being exceptional—proves the heuristic rule that most employees of these contractor corps have little power to negotiate for their rights.
- AlbertCory 5y agoAnother commonly misused phrase is "begging the question" which you have done here. It means "assuming that which you need to prove." You have no proof that it was exceptional. All you have is one case. You have no idea what other people in pay disputes end up doing.
- labster 5y agoThis kind of pedantry about which words people use to make an argument is literally garbage.
- tomrod 5y agoTo continue the spirit of the many nested comments now going back and forth: Metaphorically.
- labster 5y agoPeople who ignore semantic drift are literally gay.
- tomrod 5y agoI appreciate the compliment.
- eyelidlessness 5y agoPeople who have high regard for it are literally queer. Reference: myself.
- Dylan16807 5y agoWhat's 'it' here, I can't tell if you have high regard for pedantry about words or if you have high regard for semantic drift.
- tomrod 5y agoIt's beautiful and full of stars.
- eyelidlessness 5y agoThe latter
- bregma 5y agoI think you mean figuratively garbage. Words can only be literally garbage if they're printed on a page which is then disposed of. I mean, while we're being pedantic we may as well get it right.
- defen 5y agoThe question people are asking is "How would your relative have gotten paid if you hadn't worked at Google"?
- Dylan16807 5y agoPeople are allowed to use a phrase for its literal meaning instead of the traditional idiomatic meaning.
- Simon_says 5y ago"beg the question" does not have a literal meaning. It makes no sense unless you're so used to hearing it used that way.
- Dylan16807 5y ago"beg" often means "beg for". "This situation begs for the question:" is a completely reasonable way to start a sentence. Or to go with synonyms. Solicits the question. Entreats the question. These are the literal meanings of the words, and they work fine.
- zamfi 5y agoFirst off, I was just framing the parent’s post in the modern usage of “exception that proves the rule” and not making any claims myself, so perhaps reconsider who’s making unfounded assumptions here. > You have no idea what other people in pay disputes end up doing. But also this is a super weak argument. I don’t have “no idea”—I have an educated guess that most people don’t have family friends who work at Google. Most people don’t have the resources to sue an employer over a few hours of unpaid labor. Wage theft is one of the most extensive unprosecuted crimes, that’s been studied and shown many times. Are you suggesting that one should assume that most low-level employees in pay disputes get happy outcomes? That seems…naive.
- esja 5y agoThat’s a great explanation.
- randomswede 5y agoAnd the "proof" used is an archaic term that means "test". The same word occurs in discussing alcohol strength ("100 proof") and in "proof standard" (the standard[1] that you use to compare against). The German cognate would be "prüfen", the Swedish probably "pröva". So, the exception tests the rule. [1] And the standard is, of course, a reference exemplar of some sort.
- Fnoord 5y agoYeah, or for example in Dutch 'scheikundeproef' or 'natuurkundeproef' which we did at high school: a test involving the laws of chemistry or physics respectively.