Oh no, I am playing with this in the same way. Saying things like "Yes, but...", just means "No". I regularly change the word "but" to "and". Sometimes it works

Oh no, I am playing with this in the same way. Saying things like "Yes, but...", just means "No". I regularly change the word "but" to "and". Sometimes it works really well, like, both parts are true. Sometimes it doesn't work, where I really mean to send the message as "No". And sometimes it makes me notice that I don't want to hide a "No" message with a "Yes, but", and change it to say clearly "No". The most dreadful way of hinding a "No" is behind a "Yes, but..." and I know people who are allergic to that way of non-communication.