The phrases Can’t died in the poorhouse, Can’t died in the war, and Can’t died in the cornfield are all jocular ways of encouraging someone to persevere despite difficulties or long odds. Sometimes this notion involves the metaphorical figures Mr. Can’t and Mr. Can, as in this poem from a 1910 children’s magazine. Another version: Can’t is dead; his brother is called Try. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Can’t Died; His Brother is Try”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello, this is Jim Gilmore calling from Ithaca, New York.
Hi, Jim. Welcome to the show.
Hey, glad to be in the show.
My mother-in-law, Marveline Ricard, and I call her Marvelinius.
Well, her dad, Fred Humphrey, used to say to the kids when they kind of acted like they couldn’t get something done or maybe they just were too busy in the course of a day to finish something. He’d say, well, Kant died in the poorhouse a long time ago.
Oh, yeah.
Marveline would have heard that from her dad, Fred, around 1933-ish, 1932. The phrase was when the kids would say, I can’t do this. The phrase was, Cant died in the poor house a long time ago.
That’s a nice version of this phrase, isn’t it, Grant?
Yeah, it sure is.
What do we know about that one, Martha?
The Cant there is sort of this imaginary figure who represents pessimism or laziness. Sometimes it’s Mr. Cant. People might talk about Mr. Cant and Mr. Cant. In fact, there was a children’s magazine back in 1910 that had a poem about Mr. Cant and Mr. Can. And part of it goes, Mr. Cant is a pitiful sight for he’s whipped before he’s begun to fight. And he says that it puzzles him quite a lot why some can do it and some cannot.
Oh, poor Mr. Cant, for he never knew the secret I’m going to whisper you, that you jolly well can if you only try and you certainly can’t if you only cry. So Mr. Cant was this figure who was used to, as you said, tell kids that yes, they can. You know, be more optimistic.
And he didn’t always die in the poorhouse, right? Sometimes he died in the cornfield.
Sometimes in the cornfield, sometimes in the war. And there was another version of this that went, Cant is dead, his brother’s called try.
Right.
I’ve just seen Marveline get so much done in the course of her life. And so this phrase just keeps me going, you know. And anybody who knows me, I try to share that attitude with them. You know, Cant died in a poorhouse a long time ago.
Well, Jim, give Marveline our best, will you?
I will.
Absolutely. And thanks so much.
And thank you so much for your call. We really appreciate it.
Yeah, helping me with that.
Okay, bye-bye.
Take care now.
Be well.
Will do, you too.
Yeah, that poem is from a 1910 issue of St. Nicholas, which was a children’s magazine, and we will link to that on our website. It’s, you know, inspiring.
Yeah, sure.
Can’t, never could is another variant of that, right?
Oh, I like that.
Yeah.
But you can call us, 877-929-9673, and you can email us, words@waywordradio.org, and you can tweet at us @wayword.
