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Archiver > ABOUT-WORDS > 2003-05 > 1051823013


From: Lee Quinn <>
Subject: [ABOUT WORDS] "all but" vs "anything but"
Date: Thu, 01 May 2003 17:03:33 -0400
In-Reply-To: <000c01c31001$5ba72c00$8544a2cb@linh>


Linh:

Without getting too technical, "all but" and "anything but" are
in a class called idioms.

An idiom is an expression whose meaning is not predictable from
the usual meanings of its constituent elements. The are such phrases
as:
kick the bucket
hang one's head,
and vary from the general grammatical rules of a language, as in:
the table round for the round table,
and they are not really part of a larger expression.
Idioms can be a language, dialect, or style of speaking peculiar
to a people of an area.
The word idiom came into English about 1565–75, and traces back to the
Latin word *idioma* which was picked up from the Greek *idouma, meaning
a peculiarity.
They seem to be mostly phrases, and tracing the etymology of them is
very difficult to useless.

When a person hears the phrase "you bet!" He understands that this
phrase means "I agree with you completely." It has nothing to do with
"you," whoever that is, and wagering.
In English -- as I guess in all other languages -- only about 20%
of the words used by an individual have been acquired from a dictionary.
You get the meaning of the word from how you hear it used in context
-- over and over again -- sharpening your comprehension until it is
acceptable to all parties in a specific area.
There are idioms created in the USA by people living in all the
areas of this giant land. You have Southern, Western, New England,
and even Hollywood idioms. Many are understood outside their areas, but
if used in the wrong part of the country, you become labeled with
that simple usage as an "outsider."
Forgive me for going off at some length, but I hope this helps.

GrampsQ
===============================

At 11:46 PM 5/1/03 +0700, "Tran Tuan Linh" <> wrote:
>Hi list members,
>I am a little confused about the meaning of the sentence "The airport was
>all but deserted." It's opposite in meaning to "The airport was anything but
>deserted," isn't it? Will somebody please give me some clarification?
>Thank you very much in advance.
>With best regards,
>Linh
>
>
>==============================
>To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records,
>go to:
>http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237


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