It's an old rule that whenever someone says "I'm not racist, but", they are practically always about to say something incredibly racist. I think this can be generalized to all forms of "I'm not X, but" or, "I don't mean to be X, but", and so forth. "No offense, but, <offensive thing>" seems to also be a common variation.
Is there a word for this kind of linguistic construct?
Is there a word for this kind of linguistic construct?
( Possibly related: http://www.notracistbut.com/ )