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Is the statement, "the only rule is that there are no rules" the same in meaning as "there are no rules"? Why would a person ever necessarily use the first statement?
Accepted:
July 25, 2013

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Oliver Leaman
July 25, 2013 (changed July 25, 2013) Permalink

It is a rhetorical flourish, designed to show how open minded and liberal one is, but as you suggest, it is really equivalent to saying there are no rules. Of course, if there are no rules about anything then one wonders how the statement could be understood, since presumably it depends on rules of grammar.

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