You may not!

The other day I was working with Ian on his spelling words and reading sentences that the teacher sent home with him.  Strangely, I came across a word that is not a part of my normal vocabulary.

Cannot.  

First interesting Google image result for "cannot."  via.

Strange, eh?  It's not like the word is foreign or archaic, I just don't use it.  I wonder if Freud would have something to say about that?  My mom will tell you that as a toddler I had plenty of head-strong days where I knew that I could do anything that I decided I wanted to do.  In fact, my wife will tell you that once I have a glimmer of an idea that I should or could do something, I am tough to dissuade.  There ain't nothin I can't do.

{As an aside, do you think "can't" is a short form of "cannot" or "can not?"  Just curious.}

I think this explains why "cannot" is not a part of my lexicon:

1. Cannot indicates inability, whereas can not seems to indicate a choice to abstain.
2. In recent years, perhaps due to having children, I have found myself using the phrase "you may not" to indicate a prohibition.  Otherwise, a clever child will try to demonstrate that indeed, he can!
3. When writing, I generally tend to rephrase my thoughts to avoid contractions and unsightly phrasing.  I wonder if the subtle differences in cannot and can not-- or at least the ambiguity in useage-- has led me away from using this word?
4. I remember being a kid and asking "Can I [fill in the blank]?" and the cheeky answer being "I don't know, can you?"  Invariably I would have to ask "May I [fill in the blank]?" before getting approval.  We practice this same construct in our parenting.

So, not being sure, I did a little search, and this is what I found in a grammar help site. I find the comments the more interesting part of the discussion.  Just goes to show that occasionally I have too much time on my hands.  To grab a few quotes:

              "There seems to be a bunch of mythology about different shades of meaning between "can not" and "cannot." I checked the definition in the unabridged Merriam-Webster dictionary and “cannot” was defined as “can not.” They mean exactly the same thing."

   and 

               ""cannot" and "can not" do NOT mean the same thing, at all. 
When you say "You can not eat ice-cream for dinner," you are claiming that the option to not eat ice-cream for dinner exists. 
When you say "You cannot eat ice-cream for dinner," you are specifically claiming that eating ice-cream for dinner is NOT on option. 
This may be more clear (but is fundamentally the same) when adding a modifier to "can not." For example, "You CAN always NOT right the roller coaster if you are afraid." vs. "You CANNOT ride the roller coaster if you are afraid." The former is announcing different options, the latter is basically a rule. 



At any rate, I suspect I will carry on avoiding the ambiguity of using the word can, cannot, or can not, and lean toward "is able to" and "may" when I write.  Also, for the record: We have a tradition of eating ice cream for dinner once per summer at Kimball's.  Harumph.