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Raoul - 23 Apr 2007 10:51 GMT

Hi all,

What exactly (well, if there is an 'exact' is appropriate in this
context) does the proverb "all but ..." mean? I recently noticed that
it is often used in a way which seems unintuitive (not to say
incorrect) to me. For instance I'm reading the following paragraph
(Judea Perl, "Causality"):

"[...] According to the founding fathers of SEM, the conditions that
make the equation y=bx+e <i>structural</i> are precisely those that
make the causal rconnection between X and Y have no other value but b
and ensure that nothing about the statistical relationship between x
and e can ever change this interpretation of b. Amazingly, this basic
understanding of SEM has all but disappeared from the literature,
leaving modern econometricians and social scientists in a quandary
over b."

Here in the last sentence "all but.." is used in apparently to imply
that in fact the subject of the sentence ('this basic understanding')
did disappear from the literature, whereas I always assumed that the
meaning of "all but..." would be that "whatever happend to it, it
certainly did not disappear from the literature!"---that is, I would
interpret it as "everything except...". Perhaps this is due to the
Dutch construct "alles behalve..." which would literally translate in
English "all except..." and according to my dictionary also could be
literally translated "all but...".

Anyone with an answer?
Cheers,
Raoul

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Leszek L. - 23 Apr 2007 13:21 GMT

> and e can ever change this interpretation of b. Amazingly, this basic
> understanding of SEM has all but disappeared from the literature,
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> meaning of "all but..." would be that "whatever happend to it, it
> certainly did not disappear from the literature!"---that is, I would

There are two apparently similar English expressions
with very different meanings.

"All but X" means "all possible values very close to X,
except precisely X". So "all but disappeared" means
it has become infrequent, rare, obsolete, avoided,
superseded, etc etc, but we cannot actually say that it
disappeared because once in a gazillion years it still does
get mentioned in some obscure piece of published work.

The other meaning (whatever happened to it, it most certainly
did NOT disappear") is rendered by another English expression,
"anything but". Often used ironically, as in "The reception
was anything but friendly: upon seing us, the residents
opened fire with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades".

Hope this helps,
Leszek.

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Raoul - 23 Apr 2007 14:27 GMT

> There are two apparently similar English expressions
> with very different meanings.
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> Hope this helps,
> Leszek.

Thanks, that certainly helps, but is my impression correct that "all
but.." is sometimes used in the sense of "anything but.."? And is such
use plainly incorrect? In fact, as I discovered after posting my
question to this news group, my babylon.com English-English dictionary
(with an American flag, so it might be the case only for American
English) tells me that "all but.." has the meaning "everything except
for..." (which I think would suit both your meanings, at least if you
are mathematically inclined) and indeed translates it to Dutch as
"alles behalve..." (which has the second meaning you mentioned). It
also tells me that "All but..." and "Anything but..." have this same
meaning. Any comments?

Raoul

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Leszek L. - 23 Apr 2007 15:08 GMT

> Thanks, that certainly helps, but is my impression correct that "all
> but.." is sometimes used in the sense of "anything but.."? And is such

I am not aware of such usage, but then I am not a native speaker
of either British or American English. I am looking forward to learning
from others - Einde?

Cheers,
L.

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Einde O'Callaghan - 23 Apr 2007 22:52 GMT

Raoul schrieb:

>>There are two apparently similar English expressions
>>with very different meanings.
[quoted text clipped - 26 lines]
> also tells me that "All but..." and "Anything but..." have this same
> meaning. Any comments?

I broadly agree with Leszek's take on this. the meaning broadly depends
on the kind of word following the words "all but". If it modifies a verb
(i.e. functions as an adverb) it means roughly "almost completely" -
"The language was widely spoken in this area during the 19th century,
but today it has all but disappeared." The is also the meaning in the
text quoted in the original question.

In the other usage "You can use all but X" it does indeed mean the same
as "You can use any but/except X". Usually however it will be connected
with some noun. There is however a difference in grammar "all ... but"
is connected with a noun in the plural whereas "any ... but" is
connected with a noun in the singular, e.g. "The sell all colours
but/except red" - "You can buy any colour but/except red".

there do however seem to be slight idiomatic differences in usage, which
I'd have to think about for a while before I could describe what they
are. Unfortunately, I don't have enough time to do so at the moment. :-(

Regards, Einde O'Callaghan

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Discussion Groups / ESL Teaching / April 2007

all but...