Yes, what Jack says, basically. If you say "Statement A and statement B", the (primary, simplest) information you're conveying is that both of the statements are true; and if you say "Statement A but statement B", the same applies – you're still saying that both of the statements are true.
Where they differ is in the secondary subtext, in which the use of 'but' hints that it's perhaps not what you'd expect (if A normally goes with not-B and this is a rare exception), or that the two have conflicting effects (if you think A is good and B is bad, then the 'but' suggests that B makes you less happy about A) or some other kind of opposition between the statements being joined.
You can imagine situations in which either conjunction could be used and the only difference is in the subtext: e.g. compare "He's a boy and he likes playing with dolls" with "He's a boy but he likes playing with dolls". Both are telling you the same two basic facts, but one is also commenting on the divergence from conventional gender roles (perhaps even making a negative value judgment, though that probably depends on who's saying it).
But if you ignore that kind of subtext (as a programming language would, having no use for such editorialising in the first place) then the difference between the two words vanishes, so that "A but B" tells you nothing more or less than "A and B" – just that both of A,B are true.
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Date: 2014-02-18 01:07 pm (UTC)Where they differ is in the secondary subtext, in which the use of 'but' hints that it's perhaps not what you'd expect (if A normally goes with not-B and this is a rare exception), or that the two have conflicting effects (if you think A is good and B is bad, then the 'but' suggests that B makes you less happy about A) or some other kind of opposition between the statements being joined.
You can imagine situations in which either conjunction could be used and the only difference is in the subtext: e.g. compare "He's a boy and he likes playing with dolls" with "He's a boy but he likes playing with dolls". Both are telling you the same two basic facts, but one is also commenting on the divergence from conventional gender roles (perhaps even making a negative value judgment, though that probably depends on who's saying it).
But if you ignore that kind of subtext (as a programming language would, having no use for such editorialising in the first place) then the difference between the two words vanishes, so that "A but B" tells you nothing more or less than "A and B" – just that both of A,B are true.