but me no buts en · X
Etymology
Coined in 1709 by Susanna Centlivre in the play The Busie Body.
Meanings
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Used to cut off objections or qualifications.
Jim Hacker: But me no buts, Bernard. Shakespeare. / Bernard Woolley: Oh no, Prime Minister. ‘But me no buts’ is circa 1820. Mrs Centlivre used the phrase in 1708, but actually it was Scott’s employment of it in ‘The Antiquary’ in 1816 which made it fashionable.
1982, “The Key”, in Yes, Prime Minister:"No," said Yapp. "But—" ¶"But me no buts, sir. We can take it that the act of adultery is established.
1980, Tom Sharpe, Ancestral Vices, →ISBN, page 312:VVor[thy]. But Sir— / Pol[itick]. But me no buts—vvhat can be the Reaſon of all this vvarlike Preparation, vvhich all our Nevvs-papers have informed us of.
1730, [Henry Fielding], Rape upon Rape; or, The Justice Caught in His Own Trap. A Comedy. […], London: […] J. Wat[t]s, […], →OCLC, Act II, scene xi, page 28:Sir Fran. But me no Buts Be gone, Sir: Dare to ask me for Money agen Refuse Forty Thousand Pound! Out of my Doors, I say, without reply.
1709, Susanna Centlivre, The Busie Body:‘Yes, but—’ / ‘But me no buts.’ Tom glowered at him. ‘Who’s the captain of this crew, anyway?’
2003, Wilbur Smith, Monsoon, →ISBN, page 1:“I heartily wish I could, but”–– / “Nay, but me no buts—I have set my heart upon it.” / “I am greatly obliged, my dear sir, but”––
1816, [Walter Scott], chapter XI, in The Antiquary. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 236:Nay, but me no buts, offer me no objections.
1889, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, New York, N.Y.: Charles L. Webster & Company, →OCLC:
Relateds
Translations (2)
fi ei mitään muttia (used to cut off objections or qualifications) · fr il n'y a pas de mais qui tienne (used to cut off objections or qualifications)