Thursday, March 15, 2012

can't, cant

Can't or can't is a contraction  ( short, informal form ) of  "can not"--
Mom says we can't go to the movies.
I can't stay late tonight.

Cant or cant ( rhymes with can't ) is a form of slang or secret language that belongs to a particular group--
She tried to make the story seem authentic by adding bits of the cant spoken by criminals.
Rhyming slang is one kind of cant.
Cant also means insincere rot, such as a memorized bit of philosophy one does not believe--
Surely he doesn't believe his own cant!
I'm tired of listening to this cant.

Now that you know that you can say--
"His speech is so full of thieves' cant that I can't understand it."

Note--"cant" also means on a slant or at an angle--
The cant of the wall made it difficult to hang a picture.

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