The phrase "about all but" is not correct in standard written English.
It is likely intended to convey a meaning similar to "almost all" or "nearly everything," but the construction is awkward and unclear.
Example: "The project was about all but completed when the deadline arrived."
Alternatives: "almost all" or "nearly all".
Many?? How about "all but a vanishingly tiny and depraved handful of perverted psychopaths"?
They tweet, blog and talk freely about all but the most sensitive topics.
Some members of the national Parliament complained bitterly that they had been kept in the dark about all but the general direction of the rival plans.
Chemical analyses of Type I carbonaceous chondrites, a special kind of meteorite, provide information about all but the most volatile elements i.e., those that existed as gases that the parent body of the meteorite could not trap in representative amounts.
The development demonstrated investors' wariness about all but the safest assets, as well as the impact of the Bank of Japan's surprise decision to charge banks for additional deposits at the central bank.
BLOOMBERG NEWS Feded Said to Tell Banks to Hold Off on Mergers | The Wall Street Journal reports: "The Federal Reserve is pushing large U.S. banks to forget about all but the smallest acquisitions for a while amid a raging debate over the risk big lenders pose to the financial system".
Sorry about all this, but there's something about Emin's art that provokes critical torrents.
"I'm really awfully shy about all this, but I'm also very grateful".
Smeeth talks in general terms about all this, but it's pretty clear what she means.
"We're in the very early stages of thinking about all this, but that's very interesting to me".
I reached out to him about all this but he's declined to comment – perhaps understandably.
