I hate misuse of the "all but" or "anything but" phrases. Every once in a while some reporter on the news is reporting on a car wreck, plane crash, fire, etc., and just wants to make their story sound more dramatic, so they'll say something stupid like "The car was all but destroyed." Then, it pans to the car, and it's in 100 pieces all over the highway. If it got totally banged up but was still drivable, THEN it would be ALL BUT destroyed. When the only thing that made it out of the wreck in one piece was the goddamn air freshener, it has ANYTHING BUT SURVIVED.