3 ms·

GP's use is listed here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rule#Proving_the_validity_of_a_rule_of_thumb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excep

by rendaw 1y ago

GP's use is listed here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rule#Proving_the_validity_of_a_rule_of_thumb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rule... under "Proving the validity of a rule of thumb"

parineum 1y ago
It's listed there as a way that people use it and then calls that usage objectionable and a misunderstanding. I don't dispute that people use it that way but it's objectively a misuse. The phrase's misuse implies that evidence against a statement supports the statement. > In many uses of the phrase, however, the existence of an exception is taken to more definitively 'prove' a rule to which the exception does not fit. > In what Fowler describes as the "most objectionable" variation of the phrase,[1] this sort of use comes closest to meaning "there is an exception to every rule", or even that the presence of an exception makes a rule more true; these uses Fowler attributes to misunderstanding.
- sach1 1y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_description https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_description Try to understand that there is no individual ownership over turns of phrase, and that they tend to shift around over time. Bugs Bunny turned Nimrod from a byword for a competent hunter into an insult. This is natural and all of your favorite words have or will be subject to it as long as there are humans to communicate with them.
  - riffraff 1y ago
    Ooooh that's why nimrod is an insult! Now it makes sense! Thank you! Btw, let me add my personal pet peeve: "egregiously" somehow went from meaning "very good" to mean "very bad" in American English. In my native language "egregiamente" still has the original meaning so I was confused for a long time.
    - willvarfar 1y ago
      I'm still momentarily paused when kids today say 'shit' to mean 'good' etc. Yeah some words shift in meaning and other words swap in meaning.
      - qzw 1y ago
        Shit (meaning “how true”), shit is veritably the aladeen of words. It can basically mean anything depending on usage, context, attitude, or tone of voice.
    - cvcount 1y ago
      Dictionaries - at least the ones I checked - mark the "very good" meaning of "egregious" as archaic. I'm only aware of the "very bad" meaning (in UK English), and was quite surprised, when studying maths, to learn of Gauss's "Theorema Egregium", and that the word could have positive connations.
- speerer 1y ago
  > The phrase's misuse implies that evidence against a statement supports the statement. The original meaning of 'prove' was more like 'test'. The original sense was therefore opposite to this.

by rendaw 1y ago

parineum 1y ago

It's listed there as a way that people use it and then calls that usage objectionable and a misunderstanding. I don't dispute that people use it that way but it's objectively a misuse. The phrase's misuse implies that evidence against a statement supports the statement. > In many uses of the phrase, however, the existence of an exception is taken to more definitively 'prove' a rule to which the exception does not fit. > In what Fowler describes as the "most objectionable" variation of the phrase,[1] this sort of use comes closest to meaning "there is an exception to every rule", or even that the presence of an exception makes a rule more true; these uses Fowler attributes to misunderstanding.

sach1 1y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_description https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_description Try to understand that there is no individual ownership over turns of phrase, and that they tend to shift around over time. Bugs Bunny turned Nimrod from a byword for a competent hunter into an insult. This is natural and all of your favorite words have or will be subject to it as long as there are humans to communicate with them.
- riffraff 1y ago
  Ooooh that's why nimrod is an insult! Now it makes sense! Thank you! Btw, let me add my personal pet peeve: "egregiously" somehow went from meaning "very good" to mean "very bad" in American English. In my native language "egregiamente" still has the original meaning so I was confused for a long time.
  - willvarfar 1y ago
    I'm still momentarily paused when kids today say 'shit' to mean 'good' etc. Yeah some words shift in meaning and other words swap in meaning.
    - qzw 1y ago
      Shit (meaning “how true”), shit is veritably the aladeen of words. It can basically mean anything depending on usage, context, attitude, or tone of voice.
  - cvcount 1y ago
    Dictionaries - at least the ones I checked - mark the "very good" meaning of "egregious" as archaic. I'm only aware of the "very bad" meaning (in UK English), and was quite surprised, when studying maths, to learn of Gauss's "Theorema Egregium", and that the word could have positive connations.
speerer 1y ago
> The phrase's misuse implies that evidence against a statement supports the statement. The original meaning of 'prove' was more like 'test'. The original sense was therefore opposite to this.