all but

Question

How come you native speakers perceive 'all but' as the same as 'almost'?

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

Hi Taka

Even nonnative speakers of English use all but to mean almost. It can be used to mean everyone except as well:

All but Mr Smith left the station.

CB

Taka · Answer

I know the meaning, CB. I'm just wondering why it means 'almost'.

It's 'all'+'but', right? How come such combination brings the meaning 'almost'? That is my question.

Yankee · Answer

It's often difficult to say why expressions come to mean what they mean, but CB's example with Mr. Smith seems to give a good indication -- i.e. the idea of "everything except one".

You might look at the sentence "He's all but broke" as meaning something similar to "All of his money except a dollar or two is gone."

Cool Breeze · Answer

TakaI know the meaning, CB. I'm just wondering why it means 'almost'.

Taka, you are Japanese and thus want logic in everything.

Very often, there's no knowingwhy certain expressions and phrases mean what they mean - in any language. English isn't the only language in this category. I am not acquainted with the Japanese language at all but I should think even it has some inexplicable expressions. I know Finnish does.

CB

Taka · Answer

YankeeIt's often difficult to say why expressions come to mean what they mean, but CB's example with Mr. Smith seems to give a good indication -- i.e. the idea of "everything except one".

Yes, Amy. I had tried to adapt the "everything except one" idea. But then I got confused.

all but Mr. Smith=>everyone except Mr. Smith=>i.e. Mr. Smith (totally) excluded
all but impossible=>almost impossible=>i.e. impossibility almost included, not totally excluded

Yankee · Answer

Hi Taka

Maybe looking at it this way will help soothe your discomfort over the logic of the expression:

Technically speaking, "all but impossible" excludes impossible as an absolute idea. It's not completely impossible, but very nearly.

Likewise, if Mr. Smith is part of a group consisting of Mr. Smith, Mr. A, Mr. B, Mr. C, Mr. D, Mr. E, Mr. F, and Mr. G, and Mr. Smith is not present on a particular occasion, then the group is not complete, but very nearly.

Don't drive yourself too crazy over the logic (or the lack thereof) of the English language.

Hoa Thai · Answer

Hi Taka,

Let me try using a pattern recogition technique here and see if we can equate all but to almost

All but (Mr. Smith) left the station = except (Mr. Smith), all left the station.

He is all but (a few pennies) broke = except (a few pennies), he lost everything.

He is all but (…) broke = except (…), he lost everything (i.e., he lost almost everything).
Best,
Hoa Thai
EDIT: I think we can equate he is all but broke to he is all broke except a little left

CalifJim · Answer

It's probably related to the usage of all in the expression all the way (the entire distance; completely) and in expressions like all gone or all tired out.

all but X = all the way it is possible to go in the direction of X-ness, but without actually reaching X-ness itself.
So, almost in the state of X-ness, almost X.

This 'going in the direction of a quality' is, of course, metaphoric.

all but finished = all the way it is possible to go in the direction of being finished, but not completely finished = almost finished
all but impossible = all the way it is possible to go in the direction of impossibility, but not completely impossible = almost impossible

The paraphrase above is consistent with the fact that the accompanying adjective has to represent an absolute end point of some kind. It makes little sense, in ordinary circumstances, to use all but with happy or yellow! (?all but happy?, ?all but yellow?). But -- also consistent with the paraphrase -- with past participles of 'verbs of achievement' or adjectives of final state all but works quite well.

The contest was all but won. (almost won, about to be won)
The matter was all but decided. (almost decided, about to be decided)
The beast was all but dead. (almost dead, about to die)

CJ

MrPedantic · Answer

Takaall but Mr. Smith=>everyone except Mr. Smith=>i.e. Mr. Smith (totally) excluded
all but impossible=>almost impossible=>i.e. impossibility almost included, not totally excluded

Could we say I wonder:

1. All but Mr Smith > everyone except Mr Smith > Mr Smith excluded.

2. All but impossible > everything except impossible > impossibility excluded

Prepositional "but" in OE has the sense "barring", "with the exception of". There seems to be a difference in implication between non-continuous (e.g. people, as in #2), and continuous cases (e.g. possibility, as in #2), as the #1 usage seems to focus on "the set of all things that are not excluded", while the #2 usage seems to focus on "the area just before that which is excluded".

(But maybe there are counter-examples!)

MrP

CalifJim · Answer

almost impossible=>i.e. impossibility almost included, not totally excluded

I don't see how almost X is equivalent to X not totally excluded. To me, X is totally excluded in almost X.

I'm almost ready implies I am not ready. Readiness is totally excluded.

CJ

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