"But is not" vs "No but"

[SiCantikManis]

Hi,

I just heard this conversation over the TV.

[Mister Micawber]

.
No-- it is quite odd. There is either more context, or you have misheard.
.
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Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Benjamin]

yes I agree...its a very unusual answer

however, "BUT is not an answer" or "BUT is not a sentence" or something along these lines is definitely a possible response
maybe this is what was meant

I can imagine that the child was protesting against something and said "but..."
and the above response would be a way of saying that "but..." is not a way for the child to get what it wants

[SiCantikManis]

Hi MM and Ben,

I am pretty sure I didn't misheard anything, but probably I should explain the situation.

But this would probably makes sense only if you guys have watched the movie Lemony Snicket's A series of unfortunate events.

The child was Klaus, one of the wealthy children whose parents died in a fire and he and his sisters Violet and Sunny were given to Count Olaf to be taken care of. But Count Olaf was evil and was only interested in their inheritance. Under certain events they managed to get themselves passed to Aunt Josephine, (whose character was the one who claimed that grammar is her joy of life, and was always correcting the children's sentences in the movie).

I heard the dialogue when they were at the fresh market on a dock(I think). They accidentally met Count Olaf who was disguising as one legged ship captain. Klaus was trying to convince Aunt Josephine that it was the evil Count Olaf and not who he claimed he was. But Aunt Josephine refused to listen and that was when Klaus protested and Aunt Josephine said "But is not!".

And poor Klaus was trying to persuade his aunt from being victimized by the evil Count Olaf like their other godparents but he only managed to say "But...",

Okay, I'm done. Thanks for reading. :)

So what do you think? I can't really see any other context other than the one you suggested Ben.
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Thou shalt not use yours to make the whole world jealous.

[Benjamin]

I have seen this film and know what you are talking about!

Aunt Josephine, as you say, is very strict about correcting grammar and this is what she was doing. I however am nearly 100% sure she did not say "but is not!" and I'm pretty sure she said "But is not a sentence"

i've just checked online and she DID say "but is not a sentence"

[SiCantikManis]

Okay, okay. I should have known I cannot trust my ears a 110% :oops: Thousand apologies, MM and Ben. I can be too confident sometimes. Not annoying, I hope.

And I got the joke(?). Aunt Josephine was correcting Klaus because "But" alone is not a sentence. I think it was her speech, she was stressing the word "not" and her voice came out so small when she said "sentence" that I didn't hear it. The first time I watched this movie was at the theatre. When it was on the TV I was doing something elses but "But is not!" caught my attention.

Glad I asked! :D
_________________
Thou shalt not use yours to make the whole world jealous.

[Benjamin]

that's ok...to err is human, to forgive divine ;)
but given the nature of Aunt Jospehine, it was strange for her to correct someone else's grammar by using a sentence that was grammatically wrong too so that was why I was sure you must have misheard.

good film though, and another interesting question as always...shame there were no Godzillas though. :(

[SiCantikManis]

I think there can be only one villain in a story (Count Olaf) :lol:
_________________
Thou shalt not use yours to make the whole world jealous.