"all but..."

Seeing Star Wars in the theater is one of my earliest memories (sorry, mom). When we later got a tape of it on VHS (remember VHS? Jesus, how many times do I have to rebuy the same goddamn movie?), I was haunted by Obi Wan's curious phrasing, "Now the Jedi are all but extinct." All but extinct? Does he mean the Jedi ARE extinct? Or almost extinct? Or is he saying the Jedi are anything but extinct, i.e. "Well, Luke, the Jedi are a lot of things--pederasts, for instance--but of all the things they are, they are not extinct." I guessed the former, that the Jedi are extinct...that somehow he didn't count (when you're a kid, old people don't count for much...sorry, grams). I was still kinda unsure, and when I asked a friend of mine the issue was unresolved and we returned to playing with our action figures. As it turns out, my guess was wrong.

"All but..." means almost or nearly. "The Jedi are all but extinct" may be restated, "The Jedi are nearly extinct." The former sounds more profound to my ears, particularly when intoned by Alec Guinness. He built the Bridge on the River Kwai, dammit, and spent weeks in a Japanese hotbox for the sake of his soldiers...he can DO NO WRONG! Except for trying to foil the Allied team sent to blow up the bridge. That was wrong.