Stickem said:
manythings said:
"The exception that proves the rule."
I hate this saying because people who say clearly don't understand that it means the exact opposite of what they think. It should be;
"The exception that proofs the rule."
Pardon me, but what?
It's a scientific phrase. A scientific proof is a document compiling all the information on a given experimental procedure. The hypothesis, the test, the materials needed, the method, the kind of results and how the interpret the data. The proof would be presented to other scientists who would then try and break the experiment any way they can. If they find something that shows the experiment isn't consistent enough of many tests then it is rejected, if they can't it becomes an accepted theorem.
Later on with new information, technology and techniques old information is revisited and a new crop of scientists try to break the experiment again. If these new circumstances showed that the experiment is unsound it would be declared "The exception that proofs the rule" and it would be rejected and the whole idea rethought. In essence the rule is wrong so we need to remake it, not the rule is always right except for that one thing.
