can't-be

Updated: May 16, 2025

"Can't-be. Spoke good French. Yet like a foreigner, I thought?" "Provincial," said the spy. "No. Foreign!" cried Carton, striking his open hand on the table, as a light broke clearly on his mind. "Cly! Disguised, but the same man. We had that man before us at the Old Bailey."

Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities

Then, after commending Scott, Bogers, and Moore for being men of the world, he proceeds: But for the children of the "mighty mother's," The would-be wits and can't-be gentlemen, I leave them to the daily "Tea is ready," Snug coterie, and literary lady.

John Nichol - Byron