h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Can anybody tell me what the following means:

' It's the exception that proves the rule. '

Ta

Professor Dr Sir Lord Arith, AA, RAC, H2G2, H2O, BARD(from pub)

Not just anybody, no.

F

I think it means something like if there was no night, we would´t know what day was.

I have woken after a particularly rabid night and not known what day it was......or who I was, or why my pants were on back to front.

It is often thought that the meaning of this phrase is ambiguous (to say the least) because it uses an old sense of the word 'prove'. That old sense meaning 'to test' - an example from near where I live is the old building in birmingham called the 'Gun Barrel Proof House' the idea here being that it is where they tested the gun barrels to prove they were ok.

However, that is not, apparenlty, where the phrase comes from.

It is not 'prove' that is used in a different sense here but 'exception'. In this phrase, and 'exception' is used to mean something which specifically is allowed counter to the rule. Thus the fact that it is allowed means that the rule is implicit. For example, if you said 'no entry on friday afternoons', this implies that entry is allowed at all other times - else why make the exception? So in this case, the exception that entry is not allowed on friday afternoons proves the rule that entry is allowed. The fact youmake an exectpion means there must be a rule to be excepted from (excuse my grammar!).

Apparently it goes back to a medieval latin phrase 'exceptio probat regulam in casibus non exceptis' which I think (and I may be wrong as I had to rely on t'web for the translation!) 'exceptions confirm the rules in cases not excepted'.

And having just googled the phrase the first few results would seem to agree with my vague understanding!

I never knew that, it was just an irritating expression to me. I used to pass the proof house on the train everyday on my way to university. What a small world where something irritating might have emanated from a place I knew.

I prefer the second reason though.

Ta

There you are, Ictoan knew it; far from just 'anybody'. I guess that makes Ictoan the exception...

F

I must admit I have been called that before (an excpetion that is). I am, so far, the only person I know who has been describbed in an offical work performance review as 'eccentric'. It was meant in a nice way, apparently.