Can't died in a cornfield.

[elee1218]

Growing up when I said can't my mother would always say Can't died in a corn field. I'm 31 now and I still have no idea what it means. Can someone help?

[Quizmonster]

Click http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin_board/12/message
s/1251.html for a possible answer. I wondered myself whether it might be a reference to Immanuel Kant, the German philosopher, but he died peacefully in bed. Assuming he wasn't out camping at the time, therefore, it can't have been him! Still, my idea was on the same 'punning' basis as the web-page offers.

[FredPuli]

Cain seems a reasonable guess. He died in a field, though Genesis doesn't say it was a cornfield. In some accents can't sounds like caint. It is an apt reference. Cain has been killed by his brother Abel. Questioned by God ( not, I notice , under caution; perhaps He did not think He had reasonable grounds for thinking Cain had committed the offence?) Abel replies fatuously 'I know not; am I my brother's keeper?' ( and so is not Abel to say). So he cain't tell. God does not believe him. The Almighty must have been tempted to say 'Can't died etc' ( if He has a Southerner's accent then all those Deep South preachers may be right all along!)

[FredPuli]

Oops! 'reasonable grounds ...that Abel....'

[Roxy]

whenever i said "oh, but I thought..." my mother would say, "well, you know what thought did, it followed a dustcart because he thought it was a wedding". Let's face it, mothere say the FUNNIEST things

[Agricola]

On the farm in Northamptonshire where I was sent at the beginning of WWII, it was usual to put up two scarecrows each year in the big 10-acre field to keep the birds off the crops. They were made by the farm children in a traditional competition. As a London evacuee I was allowed to watch the work but not help. After judging, one was called ‘Can do’ and the other ‘Can’t do’ for some reason to do with where they were to be placed, either near the brow of the field or down at the bottom. The one at the top of the field was more likely to be blown down in any gale of wind. Then it was said that ‘Can’t do died up in the cornfield’. Presumably this had been going on for many years and had travelled to America with immigrants.
I did not take much interest in country traditions then, being much more keen on getting back to the more friendly folk in London, blitz or no blitz.

[Agricola]

On the farm in Northamptonshire where I was sent at the beginning of WWII, it was usual to put up two scarecrows each year in the big 10-acre field to keep the birds off the crops. They were made by the farm children in a traditional competition. As a London evacuee I was allowed to watch the work but not help. After judging, one was called ‘Can do’ and the other ‘Can’t do’ for some reason to do with where they were to be placed, either near the brow of the field or down at the bottom. The one at the top of the field was more likely to be blown down in any gale of wind. Then it was said that ‘Can’t do died up in the cornfield’. Presumably this had been going on for many years and had travelled to America with immigrants.
I did not take much interest in country traditions then, being much more keen on getting back to the more friendly folk in London, blitz or no blitz.