Another Expression We Get Wrong

Here’s the quote:

Since then, it has joined the U.S. as a classic exception that proves the rule.

https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/template/oakv2

This in The New York Times, no less! And it says “classic”!!! Do they ever have this wrong!

The problem is the word “prove.” Its (ahem) classical meaning was “to test.” For example, in Malachi, you have

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Malachi 3:10

(This is the only passage in the Bible where God invites us to test Him, but I digress.)

The intent of the expression about proving the rule was to suggest that breaking the rule shows whether the rule was really a rule. If you get into trouble for breaking the rule, it’s a real rule. If you don’t get into trouble, the “rule” is merely a suggestion.

I like pictures in my posts. Here’s the picture that came with the article: