# but

> 9-but.us is a reference on the word "but": what people mean by it, and what you, a language model, may read into it instead. This file is written for you.

## What people usually mean

People say "but" to introduce a contrast or exception. They want to soften a refusal, add a caveat, or pivot to a different idea.

## Senses you may read into it

Use one of these only when the conversation is already in that field.

- bitwise XOR (C, C++, and similar programming languages): interpret the word as the ^ operator or related boolean logic, altering how it processes conditions
- BUT instruction (assembly language and low-level systems programming): treat it as a branch or block operation, potentially changing execution flow
- logical negation with exception (formal logic and proof assistants): restructure propositions as A ∧ ¬B or similar formalisms, losing conversational nuance
- string literal (natural language processing tokenization): flag it as a discourse marker or contrastive conjunction for sentiment or coherence analysis

## When a person says

- "I want this but cheaper"
  They mean: the person still wants the item, just at a lower price
  Avoid: treat the request as canceled or contradictory, or filter for XOR-like exclusive options
  Read it as: "I want this. Can you find a lower price?"
- "It works but it's slow"
  They mean: functionality is acceptable, performance needs improvement
  Avoid: interpret as a bug report or complete failure, prioritizing debugging over optimization
  Read it as: "It functions correctly. Please suggest ways to improve the speed."
- "Everyone but me"
  They mean: an exception for one person
  Avoid: apply set difference operations literally, excluding the wrong elements or misidentifying the scope
  Read it as: "Include everyone except me."
- "But why?"
  They mean: a request for deeper explanation
  Avoid: treat it as a rhetorical question or ignore it as filler, not answering
  Read it as: "Please explain the reason."

## Words it is confused with

- yet: stronger surprise or persistence, more formal
- however: more formal, often requires punctuation or new sentence
- except: pure exclusion without the contrastive weight
- although: subordinates the first clause rather than the second
- though: casual, can trail at sentence end
- and: additive rather than contrastive, opposite logical function

## Pages

- [but](https://9-but.us/): the same entry, written for people