Nearly 55% of voters in Switzerland on Sunday rejected an initiative championed by the top right-wing party to cap the rich Alpine country’s population at 10 million, early results showed.
The populist Swiss People’s Party, which has the most seats in parliament, has stirred up and fostered anti-migration sentiment over the years, notably about an influx of workers from the neighboring European Union.
Some have dubbed the proposal a “Swiss Brexit” because it could jeopardize Switzerland’s deep ties to the European Union anchored by deals that foster economic growth, cultural ties and cross-border travel, among other things. Switzerland is not one of the EU’s 27 member states, but it is all but surrounded by four of them
“All but” has always confused me as a phrase even as a native English speaker. You would think it means it isn’t surrounded at all, i.e. “all but:” = “the last thing it would be is:”, but apparently not.
It’s the worst phrase and we need to stop using it! Most of the time the actual intended meaning can be found by just removing “all but”. Switzerland is all but surrounded == Switzerland is surrounded
It’s made worse by the fact that my native language has exactly the same phrase in terms of literal meanings of words… So naturally the meaning is the exact opposite of what it is in English.
No, it means it’s almost surrounded. Lichtenstein is not part of the EU.
Which is the point of the phrase of course. It’s meant to simultaneously acknowledge and dismiss the “well ackshully” crowd. No, Switzerland is not fully surrounded, but also it doesn’t matter in any politically meaningful way.
It’s all but the worst phrase and we need to all but stop using it! All but most of the time the actual all but intended meaning can all but be found by just all but removing “all but”. Switzerland is all but all all but but surrounded == Switzerland is all but surrounded
It’s not even in the top 1000 worst phrases