but me no buts
English edit
Etymology edit
Coined in 1709 by Susanna Centlivre in the play The Busie Body.
Phrase edit
- Used to cut off objections or qualifications.
- 1709, Susanna Centlivre, The Busie Body[1]:
- 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.
- 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:
- 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.
- 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:
- “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”––
- 1889, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, New York, N.Y.: Charles L. Webster & Company, →OCLC:
- Nay, but me no buts, offer me no objections.
- 1980, Tom Sharpe, Ancestral Vices[2], →ISBN, page 312:
- "No," said Yapp. "But—" ¶"But me no buts, sir. We can take it that the act of adultery is established.
- 1982, “The Key”, in Yes, Prime Minister:
- 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.
- 2003, Wilbur Smith, Monsoon[3], →ISBN, page 1:
- ‘Yes, but—’ / ‘But me no buts.’ Tom glowered at him. ‘Who’s the captain of this crew, anyway?’
Translations edit
used to cut off objections or qualifications
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See also edit
X me no Xs on Wikiquote.Wikiquote - Appendix:Snowclones#Pre-1900
