"Cant," he said. "Can't?", I asked. "Cant," he repeated. "Kant?" I tried again, referring to the German philosopher and trying to give a good impression.
(I want everyone to know I studied philosophy for a year at UCG/NUIG until I realised you might as well be in supermarket with all those differing products, in their alluring packaging, shouting “. . . me!”, “. . . me!”, “. . . take me!”, when I had come in search of TRUTH. It wasn’t there).
Back to cant. And it was “cant”, he insisted. He, being the other brother-in-law. Not the “extraordinary one” referred to in this column some weeks ago. “The other one” insisted I try writing about cant. A challenge it seemed.
“Feck off,” I thought. But diplomacy and good relations with that sister demanded I respond. What is a man to do? Hell hath no fury like sisters scorned! Or their husbands.
I had thought the word about as interesting as its spelling. So expected. So unimaginative. How wrong can you be!
Until the moment of said brother-in-law’s inspired (you have to stroke said egos) suggestion, I would have thought “cant” referred only to what the dictionary describes as “insincere, especially conventional expressions of enthusiasm for high ideals, goodness or piety”.
Another polite, meaningless word then. Hypocrisy, even. Did I get a happy surprise!
There's a strong Irish connection, and so obvious when you think of it. There is a cant that is derived from the Irish word word caint, meaning speech or talk. Also the Scots Gaelic word cainnt.
It gives us “the Cant”, a creole language developed by Travellers from Irish, Scots Gaelic, and English-speaking backgrounds. Creole languages are generally derived from pidgin versions of the language spoken by the larger population.
Among Travellers Cant is known as the Gammon, and as Shelta to academics. The number of speakers in Ireland is said to be about 6,000, believed to be made up mainly of Travellers who had originally been Irish speakers.
However, it has a limited vocabulary, which The Oxford Companion to the English Language puts at 2,000 to 3,000 words.
The word Shelta appeared in print for the first time in the 1882 book The Gypsies by Charles Leland, who described it as "the fifth Celtic tongue." Shelta, in turn, is thought to be derived from the Irish word word siúl, meaning to walk.
