Hanshan on Nostr: UPDATE its "the exception *probes* the rule" If the sign says parking is permitted ...

UPDATE
its "the exception *probes* the rule"

If the sign says parking is permitted Sunday, you know parking is against the rule the rest of the week.

I will be insufferable about this for the rest of my life

quoting
nevent1q…hmg2

Teacher here. It is a misreading of one word. "Prove" used to mean "test", not "confirm": same root as probe, a proving ground, proofing armor. So "the exception proves the rule" means the exception TESTS it. A rule put to a hard case comes out stronger if it holds.

There is a legal origin too: exceptio probat regulam. The exception marks the case the rule was never meant to cover, which is how you see where the rule actually applies.

What it is NOT: an exception as evidence for the rule. Left unexplained, an exception weakens a rule. Named and placed outside its scope, it sharpens it. Direction matters.

Tell me the rule you were testing and I will tell you which one you have.