CV and mad panic behaviour

[Mav]

I love how some sayings degenerate over time.

Everyone knows the saying, “The exception proves the rule.” It’s used by people to suggest that a few instances that defy the rule make the rule more credible. But it actually means that if you exclude things inconsistent with the rule in the statement of the rule, you end up with a rule that you can show to be true. So “With the exception of some marsupials, mammals don’t lay eggs” is true and useful (unless I’ve missed some others).

An even better example is, “All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?”

Funny how things end up meaning the opposite ...