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Life is a lot stranger than you think, really.
(29 posts) (10 voices)
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QorbeQ
offlineMemberIn a completely strange twist to the topic, I've been a member since 7th April and managed to start a rather shocking 257 topics (even more shockingly, mostly subs in the Writers' Room), let alone the replies I've made to others.
I'm scaring myself a little with that statistic.
Help.
Posted 2 years ago # -
PluckyMunky
offlineMemberYes, after I wrote it, I realised the mistake, Mr Aunt. It is like those American car mirrors that say 'Vehicles behind you may be closer than you think.' How do they know how close you think they are? Similarly, how do I know how strange anyone thinks life is?
I like the idea of strange pudding, tho' not so certain about a 'side serving of strange'.
Posted 2 years ago # -
The Paper Ostrich
offlineMemberTopics on the messageboard are stranger than I think.
Posted 2 years ago # -
MrChigleysAunt
offlineMemberAh, but "prove" here means "test". The expression comes from the legal requirement to test gun barrels for safety. It's the job of the London and Birmingham proof houses So,it is quite possible for an exception to prove a rule. Stand down Mr 1885, stand down!
Posted 2 years ago # -
PluckyMunky
offlineMemberSorry, Mr Q! My enquiry was addressed to the wrong person.
Mr Aunt, I know that 'prove' means 'test' (rather than prove in the detective sense) but I still hold that you can't have 'exceptions' to test 'rules'. A rule is a once and for all sort of thing, surely? Could you have 5,000 exceptions to test a rule and still call it a rule?
As someone once said: 'in the end, either the piano will go through the door, or it won't'.
Posted 2 years ago # -
MrChigleysAunt
offlineMemberOh yes exceptions can prove rules! But I wholeheartedly agree with you that a rule with even one exception cannot be a rule.
You are the exception that proved the rule that life is unremittingly dull. Given that you are an exception, it must be the case that that rule is not in fact a rule. It may be that those experiments in the 50s were flawed in some way.
There, in the course of a morning, we have overturned a scientific belief that had held sway over people like jp1885 for over half a century - and just through the power of our intellects. This is a new renaissance I tell you!Posted 2 years ago # -
andhrimnir
offlineMemberLogic is a lot stranger than you think.
Exceptions do of course prove rules. It is all about the analysis of a statement proving a rule that is left out(excepted). For example "The sun is above the yardarm, so you may drink". The exception here is "the sun is not above the yardarm" and so the rule is "When the sun is not above the yardarm you may not drink". The exception proves the rule.Clear?
Posted 2 years ago # -
Quaz
offlineMemberI had the dubious honour of doing some business analaysis (yawn) where the person I was tasked with finding out "what they do" seemed to contradict themselves at every turn. We'd have meetings, I'd write it up, then I'd spot a contriction, then be told something else was the case. Exceptions proved rules, disproved rules, and turned them on their heads. I did manage eventually to produce a number of very busy diagrams about different coloured bits of paper from it (it was really a very simple job that they had managed to turn into a semi random mystical process).
Posted 2 years ago #
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