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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsKnow any adages or old sayings that are just not true? (Part 2)
Adages or old sayings that are just not true - Part 1
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10181096541
Sanity Claws
(21,848 posts)That popped up in my head after reading that Trump is an asshole.
I'm not an asshole but I can tell that Trump is one.
Ilsa
(61,695 posts)"It all happens for a reason," and "God never gives you more than you can bear" are two that are almost fightin' words!
Aristus
(66,352 posts)No it doesn't. The exception disproves the rule.
Stupidest saying ever...
wryter2000
(46,045 posts)Drives me nuts.
sl8
(13,769 posts)From Wikipedia, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rule :
"The exception proves the rule" is a saying whose meaning has been interpreted or misinterpreted in various ways. Its true definition, or at least original meaning, is that the presence of an exception applying to a specific case establishes ("proves" ) that a general rule exists. For example, a sign that says "parking prohibited on Sundays" (the exception) "proves" that parking is allowed on the other six days of the week (the rule). A more explicit phrasing might be "the exception that proves the existence of the rule."
An alternative explanation often encountered is that the word "prove" is used in the archaic sense of "test".[1] Thus, the saying does not mean that an exception demonstrates a rule to be true or to exist, but that it tests the rule. In this sense, it is usually used when an exception to a rule has been identified:[clarification needed] for example, Mutillidae are wasps without wings which cannot fly, and therefore are an exception that proves (tests) the rule that wasps fly. The explanation that "proves" really means "tests" is, however, considered false by some sources.[2][3]
...
More at link.
From The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style, p. 138 :
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=z_VmtjAU01YC&pg=PA138
Aristus
(66,352 posts)That makes a lot of sense. The usual manner in which people use the saying does not.
RobinA
(9,893 posts)I could never figure out WHAT the hell it meant.
red dog 1
(27,802 posts)This implies that it's always darkest RIGHT before the dawn, or IMMEDIATELY before the dawn, which is untrue.
It's actually "twilight" before the dawn, so it's not "darkest before the dawn"
"Twilight", as defined by Merriam-Webster:
"The light from the sky between full night and sunrise or between sunset and full night produced by diffusion of sunlight through the atmosphere and it's dust."
MarcA
(2,195 posts)Like many(most?) of the sayings here and in Part 1, they are bromides
used by the oligarchs to keep order over the peasants. I mean really, think
about it.
Paladin
(28,257 posts)Should actually be "It is what it isn't."
Wounded Bear
(58,654 posts)NO, NO, NO!!!!
The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
There, I said it.
dhol82
(9,353 posts)Always found that interesting.
frogmarch
(12,153 posts)I didn't beat or even spank any of my three children, and they turned out fine.
Wolf Frankula
(3,600 posts)in a lot of places.
Wolf
earthshine
(1,642 posts)BlueTsunami2018
(3,492 posts)All the karma bullshit. Theres no such thing as karma. Dick Cheney is undead proof.
Grasswire2
(13,569 posts).....having lived a virtuous youthful life and eventually seeing that other people were having more fun.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,368 posts)No, no it doesnt
PERFECT practice makes perfect.
Screwed up practice makes it screwed up
Generic Brad
(14,275 posts)It doesn't work if you welcome unsolicited sexual advances.
red dog 1
(27,802 posts)But, imo, that has little or nothing to do with the "Golden Rule"
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is good advice, [in my humble opinion]
keithbvadu2
(36,803 posts)Alpeduez21
(1,751 posts)While literally true. It is NOT true that family won't screw you over more than strangers.
Hair of the dog that bit you. Ummm, now I am hungover and drunk.
skypilot
(8,854 posts)Uh...no.
red dog 1
(27,802 posts)It's more of an "employee rule" isn't it?
Wolf Frankula
(3,600 posts)in London. He never dealt with customers, his 10 bob a week clerks had to do that. In my experience, 'the customer is usually wrong, and often idiotically so.'
Wolf
red dog 1
(27,802 posts)I never worked in a store, so I never had to deal with customers.
However, I did have jobs where I had to deal with people over the phone, and sometimes they were not too "polite" or friendly.
The only time I ever worked for a boss who thought "The customer is always right" was when I worked as a meter reader for a large Northern CA utility company, and had to go inside a house to get to the back yard, but the old woman had a very small dog who was barking ferociously at me, bur she said "Oh, don't worry, he won't bite!"
Well, she was wrong!
The little bastard bit me TWICE...on the lower part of both my legs, just above the ankles.
I left immediately, drove to the nearest pay phone & called the office to tell them that I got bit.
My asshole boss told me to "go back and apologize to the lady"
I ignored his command and instead I immediately went to get a Tetanus shot.
red dog 1
(27,802 posts)sl8
(13,769 posts)red dog 1
(27,802 posts)sl8
(13,769 posts)red dog 1
(27,802 posts)sl8
(13,769 posts)It's something what you pick up on the street.
red dog 1
(27,802 posts)Like dog shit?
montana_hazeleyes
(3,424 posts)the old saying " Looks don't matter" in many instances is just not true.
3catwoman3
(23,985 posts)I can think of several "kinds" we would do just fine wthout.
enid602
(8,616 posts)My grandmother had two sayings that were ALWAYS true.
True contentment comes from knowing that absolutely everything invariably turns out just exactly the way you always knew it would.
It's always the Barbie and Ken types that end up shocking you the most.