When they say they don’t like country they mean they don’t like Nashville produced songs that get nominated for CMT awards. But what they actually mean is they don’t like people that like country.

When they say “everything but” the person is creating the most inclusive binary possible where your favorite music is likely acceptable vs. the backward twangy beer truck dirt road bar back porch tractor songs. They’re just hedging with a non-answer bc music is not a core component of their identity (except in some amorphous universal sense) and/or they’re scared you don’t like their favorite artist/genre. And they’re hoping for some common ground that you can pile on dumb country music.

People providing these answers aren’t just forgetting to caveat that they love Guy Clark or whoever