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https://twitter.com/StevenTDennis/status/1359545601852071938 says

“You called Senator Sanders everything but an ignorant slut,” Senator Kennedy said.

“That is not true,” Tanden said.

Does "everything but an ignorant slut" mean "not an ignorant slut"?

Did he mean to say “You called Senator Sanders nothing but an ignorant slut” instead?

Thanks.

Tim
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    It means Tanden called Sanders all bad things except ignorant slut. Note that "ignorant slut" is a trope that goes back to the early days of Saturday Night Live in which Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin portray a political commentary "right/left" duo and Aykroyd calls Curtin an "ignorant slut" instead of responding with any sort of reasoned discourse. See this video. It all seems somehow very tame compared with the tenor of today's political animosity. – Robusto Feb 10 '21 at 17:36
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    You are asking if everything means nothing? – Yosef Baskin Feb 10 '21 at 17:38
  • Does this previous answer help you? – Canadian Yankee Feb 10 '21 at 18:08
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    Does this answer your question? What is the difference between "nothing but", "anything but", and "everything but"? – user 66974 Feb 10 '21 at 18:58
  • @Cascabel His sentence meant that she didn't call Sanders that. But I think he wanted to say she did. I think he mispoke – Tim Feb 10 '21 at 19:31
  • @Cascabel improve what? It is exactly what my question asks to clarify! – Tim Feb 12 '21 at 21:24
  • The misunderstanding here is that OP is taking the sentence to mean that the insult was something like 'You are everything but an ignorant slut' which would, of course, be absurd; in that case, correcting everything to nothing would indeed be called for. The intended meaning, however, was that there were very many different (unspecified) insults; the sentence claims hyperbolically that all possible insults ('everything') were used, except 'an ignorant slut'. – jsw29 Feb 20 '21 at 16:54

1 Answers1

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“You called Senator Sanders everything but an ignorant slut,” Senator Kennedy said.

Does "everything but an ignorant slut" mean "not an ignorant slut"?

No. But = except.

OED

C. conj. I. In a simple sentence, introducing a word, phrase, or (rarely) a clause which is excepted from the general statement. With the exception of, apart from, except, save.

2013 Arab Stud. Jrnl. 21 96 My heartfelt thanks go to the following readers for their helpful engagement with this essay, however, none but I bear responsibility for its frailties.

1934 Cairns Post (Austral.) 29 May 4/5 This gangster's scheme will benefit nobody but the silver producers.

2003 Daily Mirror 1 Apr. 47/1 None but an eccentric few give a hoot.

Greybeard
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