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by brian-armstrong 3426 days ago
Pedantic aside: This isn't the right way to use this phrase. The exception that proves the rule is the data point that demonstrates that it makes sense to call it a rule and not just something which is always true.

'Dogs bark' is proven a rule by cats meowing, not by a dog that doesn't bark

1 comments

I don't understand how cats meowing proves anything about dogs. But see e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rule...

The original sense is "No parking on sundays" proves that parking is allowed on other days.

The colloquial sense is that if something is a surprising, it shows that its opposite was a useful rule of thumb, or at least one you'd established in your head. (E.g. if you are surprised by a dog that doesn't bark, this surprise is meaningful and says something about what you think about dogs and barking.)

If palantir is shocking as a SV company, this says something interesting about what you think about SV companies.