“But….”

Forget everything that precedes the word “but” in a conversation or written essay. It’s what comes after that pivotal literary bridge which REALLY matters in the eyes of the speaker or writer.  Whatever sugarcoated tripe comes beforehand is merely a literary buffer meant to soothe the feelings of the recipient; just tune that polite-but-pointless bullshit out completely and focus instead on the information delivered after the key word “but”, inasmuch as that corresponds with the honest message the deliverer is clumsily striving to impart.