"but what"

[Jonathan Lighter]

I confess that I usually fail to comprehend this idiom fully. E.g.:

1888 Charles M. Doughty _Travels in Arabia Deserta_ I (Cambridge: CUP) 378:
The camel back is uneasy more than wearing: but what for the infelicity of
nature, human malice, and the iniquity of religions, I hoped not to spend
many other such days in the world, - that should be an [sic] hell suffering.

Evidently it means "except."

OED's defs., however, while including "except," seem to me to be nearly
impenetrable overall:

2a: "(after a negative expressed or implied): except what (or who); which
(or who)‥not (= but conj.
12b<http://mail.google.com/view/Entry/25316#eid11581731>):
see also but conj. 30 <http://mail.google.com/view/Entry/25316#eid11583512>
."

2b: "*loosely* as conjunctional phr.: But that, that‥not (= but conj.
12<http://mail.google.com/view/Entry/25316#eid11581688>):
see also but conj. 30 <http://mail.google.com/view/Entry/25316#eid11583512>.
*colloq.*"

I recommend some revision. By a native speaker of "but what."

JL

"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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