Hearing "can" or "can't" ?


Linux-SWAT

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Hi, it's been years that I hear "I can live with or without you", at 1:35 and afterwards:


But looking at the lyrics today, it's "I can't"...
I would like to hear the opinion of english speakers...
 

Phlyra

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I concur with @levi but it’s also something that can be inferred from the context/saying; usually when talking about a couple who miss each other desperately when apart and really feel the need to live with each other but who, when living together, find each other intolerable and feel the need to escape then it might be said that they “can’t live with or without each other”.
If the song lyrics really were “can” instead of “can’t”, then it would be a very cold hearted song indeed because it would show the subject’s complete indifference towards the object who would mean nothing to them, whereas the song is really a sad lament that the subject loves the object but the couple find themselves in the sort of situation I described above.
 

ClockworkCoder

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If the song lyrics really were “can” instead of “can’t”, then it would be a very cold hearted song
Reminds me of the difference with our more charitable American cousins who really "could care less"

Part of the difference in can and can't is how the "a" is voiced, i.e in decant vs calm, although this may vary with accents...

Edit: the "t" is barely perceptible in the song, but to native speakers it's probably easier to distinguish as it wouldn't make as much sense as "can't"
 

ClockworkCoder

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My partner pointed out something re pronunciation recently. When someone says "what should we do?" the actual sounds made are more like "wuh shuh we do?" in some areas.

The (native speaker's) brain automatically fills in the blanks.
 

Djoga'Ro

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@Phlyra I read it differently. Either the singer can or can't live, but in any case the addressee doesn't matter. Don't know the rest of the song, though.

The (native speaker's) brain automatically fills in the blanks.
I'm a lazy-mouthed Berliner. Out of Berlin a lot of native speakers (German) don't manage to fill in the blanks - I have to repeat myself a lot, which isn't a good thing for someone lazy-mouthed. Since I moved away from Berlin, I guess I need to turn into a lazy-mouthed fish-head now.
 

levi

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My partner pointed out something re pronunciation recently. When someone says "what should we do?" the actual sounds made are more like "wuh shuh we do?" in some areas.

The (native speaker's) brain automatically fills in the blanks.
That, and also the 'we do?' part which is mainly pronounced more properly should be enough to get a meaning out of that sentence. It's not on it's own at all grammatically correct, but as a sentence fragment it's pretty unambiguous.
 

ible

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i made this mistake in a meeting the other day. the presenter said "can" but i thought they said "can't" based on earlier context. i spoke up to explain things but unnecessarily :(
 
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