All But

[Opieo]

Well, just about all of you who frequent this forum seem quite well versed in knowledge of the English language (at least more so than myself).
I have a question for you guys.
Something I have never understood, is the phrase "all but".
Ex.
They had been fighting for so long, getting them to cooperate was all but impossible.

...
Shouldn't the "all but" just be removed since it appears to the best of my knowledge that they clearly meant cooperation was impossible. How could it be all but impossible? In a way doesn't that mean it can be easy? Is it just a simple misunderstanding on my part of this phrase?

I always chalked it up to the same way people say they could care less. Which of course they mean they couldn't ...
But in one case it is just leaving off the contraction section of a word, versus actually adding two words into a sentance. I don't get it.

~
Chuck Norris is the reason Waldo is hiding.

 

[JcBWF]

I would take it to mean almost in this case


Perfection is expected, Excellence is Tolerated

 

[CajunCenturion]

I think the phrase "all but" is an emphatic "almost". Almost doesn't really do it justice; it's more difficult than almost, but not quite impossible.

As far as could/couldn't care less, yes, I agree. I think it's a lazy dropping of the negative.


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[AnotherHiggins]

I'm winging it here, but the way I've always understood the expression is as follows:

-All meaning everything
-But meaning except

So put together it means everything except. In common usage, it is a stronger form of almost. Synonyms might include, "just shy of", "very nearly" or, if you're southern, "dang close".

Consider a sentence like, "All of the citizens but one agreed". In that case, you might say, "It was all but unanimous".

Leaving it out of your example sentence wouldn't do at all, because you are NOT saying it is impossible. You are instead saying it is {just shy of/very nearly/dang close to} impossible.

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[SantaMufasa]

When I look in the mirror, I'm "All Butt". <grin>

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[KenCunningham]

Bet you're sorry Dave butted in here, eh?

I want to be good, is that not enough?

 

[Opieo]

Thanks guys, makes a bit more sense now. =)
And I am all but sorry that Dave had to make his jest.

j/k, humor is always appreciated ^_^

~
Chuck Norris is the reason Waldo is hiding.

 

[pinkgecko]

if it's everything except impossible, then wouldn't that mean it was a given, almost a given, possible, or almost impossible? You don't know where in that spectrum it's going to land if it's anything except impossible.

[blue]When birds fly in the correct formation, they need only exert half the effort. Even in nature, teamwork results in collective laziness.[/blue]

 

[ESquared]

Using this as an example,

[ul]Getting that project done on time all but killed me.[/ul]

It seems there is a connotation that is more than "everything except." To me, it implies some kind of emotional series of gradiations toward the final thing, and that the situation involved the one just short of the final. So in "all but killed me" it isn't everything under the sun such as painted my toenails red too, it is everything on the progression toward being killed except the final act. The project took a lot of time and effort, taking a portion of my life, perhaps I suffered from sleep loss and from stress, it was certainly a superhuman effort.

"Almost" also doesn't seem to capture it quite right. Using another example:

[ul]The torture I experienced all but killed me.[/ul]

While the intended meaning may not be completely clear, this isn't the same as saying "almost killed me" where one literally means that the process of death nearly occurred. The possible implication of "all but" instead of "almost" is that the speaker is describing an emotional process rather than a physical one. The torture may not have actually been life-threatening, though the experience of it was so bad that the person could have wished for death, or could have been close to some kind of emotional death such as giving up on living.

 

[dwarfthrower]

I know a fellow who's surname is Allbutt.

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