If you say you can’t accomplish a task, someone might remind you “Mr. Can’t died in a cornfield.” This old saying is particularly evocative if you’ve ever been stuck in a cornfield, because it’s easy to think you won’t make it out. Another version of this phrase is “can’t died in the poorhouse.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Can’t Died in a Cornfield”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello, this is Craig Schaefer.
Hi, Craig, how you doing? Where are you calling from?
I’m really good. How are you doing?
Super duper.
What’s going on, Craig?
Where are you?
I am in Baja, Mexico.
Oh, hey.
Just outside of Rosarito Beach.
Oh, nice.
Nice.
What are you doing down there? Surfing? Shell collecting?
Well, no, I am looking at the dolphins.
Mmm.
Enjoying the day.
Okay, and calling us.
Glad to be a part of it. How can we help?
Well, when I was a little boy, my grandmother would, if I said, I can’t do something, she would say, can’t die in a cornfield.
Can’t die in a cornfield.
And I know what she meant.
She meant you can do anything.
But I wondered where that might have come from, can’t die in a cornfield.
All right.
Tell us a little bit about her.
Where was she from?
What was she like?
Arapahoe, Nebraska.
Okay.
Down of 1080.
Okay.
And is that where you grew up, Craig?
Yes, up through grade school.
Okay.
And so, Craig, what did you picture when she said that, can’t die in a cornfield?
I mean, we have the metaphorical meaning, but what were you picturing?
Well, the unwritten words were, well, you either don’t want to, but you can do anything.
And I guess it just meant that you don’t say that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Be positive.
Exactly.
Sort of like Kant is a human being or a character, right?
Exactly.
I kind of pictured it as a person, yes.
Or old Mr. Kant.
I’ve seen it that way, old Mr. Kant.
Old man Kant.
Yeah, old man Kant died in a cornfield.
Or the notion of be positive, and if you don’t try something, you won’t be able to do anything at all.
What I love about this, most of all, though, is that if you’ve ever been in a cornfield, you can grow really kind of frightened of whether or not you’ll make your way out.
Oh, yes, yes, I’ve had that experience.
I can’t get out of here.
You will die in the cornfield because you’ve got to just keep trying until you find the edge, right?
Exactly.
You have to keep moving.
Yeah.
You don’t want to draw your last breath there.
And I’ve also seen can’t died in the poorhouse, too.
I mean, wherever can’t dies, it’s a place that you don’t want to be.
Exactly.
Can’t died in the war is another one.
-huh.
-huh.
-huh.
Yeah.
And I haven’t seen that phrase that far back, can’t died in the cornfield.
Have you, Grant?
1950s, maybe.
Yeah.
Probably older than that, but there’s not a lot out there about it, Craig.
Not really.
And I was born in the 50s, so.
Okay.
And I don’t know why it should occur at that time.
It seems to be a rustic expression to me associated with the rural lifestyle.
Mm—
Well, in that they were, you know, it’s a farm culture in that area.
There’s another one that I liked in particular, cant is dead his brothers called Try.
Oh, that’s good.
Yeah.
Cant is dead his brothers called Try.
And that really kind of underscores what the three of us are saying, right, about it being about, look, just abandon your negative can’t-do attitude and go for it.
Try, try, try.
Exactly.
You know what, guys?
I’m looking at a magazine from 1910.
It’s a magazine for kids, and it has a whole poem about Mr. Cant and Mr. Can.
Oh, please.
And, well, it goes on and on, but I’ll just read you part of it.
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.
And it goes on and on like that.
And I could see if you’re a little kid, you know, Mr. Can and Mr. Can, you’re going to want to be like Mr. Can.
Because as a father of a young child, I have that problem in my house where it’s hard to convince him that the trying is worth it.
You’ve got to build up the resistance to failure and being wrong, right?
Exactly.
And, you know, and she certainly was a good role model for that.
Always keep moving and always, you know, if you try, you can.
Well, cool. Say hello to the dolphins for us.
I’ll do it. Thank you so much.
Our pleasure. Glad to help.
Thanks a lot, Craig.
Thanks. Bye.
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Tell us what you learned from your mother and father.
Here’s the full poem from a 1910 issue of St. Nicholas, a children’s magazine.
