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Path: utzoo!utcs!lsuc!pesnta!amd!dual!hav
From: hav@dual.UUCP (Helen Anne Vigneau)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: Semantic Reversals
Message-ID: <952@dual.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 6-Mar-85 14:54:42 EST
Article-I.D.: dual.952
Posted: Wed Mar  6 14:54:42 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 7-Mar-85 06:06:22 EST
References: <> <258@unm-cvax.UUCP> <486@ptsfa.UUCP>
Organization: Dual Systems, Berkeley, CA
Lines: 30

<*munch*>

=> One curious semantic reversal occurs in the expression:
=> 
=> 	The exception proves the rule.
=> 
=> Originally 'prove' used to mean 'test' (cf. 'probe', a related word).
=> But as the meaning of this word changed, the expression changed also.
=> Until I heard of this explanation I [mis]understood this expression
=> to mean:
=> 
=> 	Don't worry about the rule at hand having an exception
=> 	since all rules have exceptions, here's the one exception that
=> 	qualifies this rule as a true rule.
=> 
=> Rob Bernardo, Pacific Bell, San Francisco, California
=> {ihnp4,ucbvax,cbosgd,decwrl,amd70,fortune,zehntel}!dual!ptsfa!rob

In German, there's "probieren" meaning "to try" (i.e., to attempt).  Another
form is "ausprobieren" which means "to try out" (i.e., to sample, as with
food).  Both are derived from a Latin root.

Helen Anne

     {ucbvax,ihnp4,cbosgd,hplabs,decwrl,unisoft,fortune,sun,nsc}!dual!hav 

             If a man does not keep pace with his companions,
             perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
             Let him step to the music he hears,
             however measured or far away.