Three Levels of Understanding

[Fred Shapiro]

The recent Duane Campbell "tree falls in the forest" posting reminds me of
a theory I have often toyed with.  (I don't mean to say that Mr.
Campbell exactly illustrates the theory, his posting just reminds
of the theory.)

I find that, with regard to quotation origins and word origins, there are
often three levels of understanding:

1. The man-in-the-street (or woman-in-the-street) understanding, which is
usually erroneous.

2. The more sophisticated explanation found in reference works and
writings about language, which often proclaim superiority over the
erroneous first-level explanation.  Curiously, though, the second-level
explanation is often wrong too.

3. The truthful explanation unearthed through original research.
(Curiously, the third-level explanation is sometimes the same as the
first-level understanding.)

Example: the phrase "the exception proves the rule."  The
man-in-the-street understanding is that this, illogically, means that an
exception to a rule strengthens the evidence for the rule.  The
second-level, pseudo-sophisticated explanation is that "proves" in this
expression has an archaic meaning of "tests."  The third-level, accurate
explanation is that this is a legal proverb meaning that the very fact of
there being an exception proves the existence of a rule in cases not
excepted.  If there is a law saying you can't buy liquor on Sundays this
implies that you can buy liquor on the other days.

There are many other examples of the three-level process in the quotation
realm, such as "lies, damned lies, and statistics" or "go west, young
man."  Can anyone think of any good examples in the etymology realm?  Has
anyone ever written about this phenomenon?

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
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