Can't help but.

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Monica: Would you look at them.

Ross: Yeah, can't help but.

What does can't help but mean? And is this usage common?

Thanks in advance!

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Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 664 • Replies: 10

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I don't know what it means since the sentence is incomplete. It isn't common to me.

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I find the construction, "You can't help but..." slightly dated, but it is an expression I use.

In the example, you can't help but look at the person being discussed. You have no choice but to look because this person is eye-catching in some way.

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Monica: Would you look at them.

Ross: Yeah, can't help but... (look at them since they are so obvious)

My impression is that the sentence should be finished with an ellipse, the three (or 4) dots i have included.

An elipse (in this instance) indicates something unsaid but obvious

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Thank you guys!! I kinda get it now. Smile

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Re: Can't help but.

bluestblue wrote:

Monica: Would you look at them.

Ross: Yeah, can't help but. = {Yeah, I just have to look.}

What does can't help but mean? And is this usage common?

Thanks in advance!

Results 1 - 10 of about 910,000 English pages for "can't help but".

That's pretty common, B'estB.

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Ross: Yeah, can't help but.

means:

(I) can not help but (see it.)

This sounds like a southern idiom, a short way of saying the above.

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I agree w/Sully

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SULLYFISH66 wrote:

Ross: Yeah, can't help but.

means:

(I) can not help but (see it.)

This sounds like a southern idiom, a short way of saying the above.

I've never even set foot in the south, Sully, Plantress. Do you think that this collocation could be part of other dialects? I agree that your interpretation certainly exists but do you figure that it's the only one?

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JTT wrote:

SULLYFISH66 wrote:
Ross: Yeah, can't help but.

means:

(I) can not help but (see it.)

This sounds like a southern idiom, a short way of saying the above.

I've never even set foot in the south, Sully, Plantress. Do you think that this collocation could be part of other dialects? I agree that your interpretation certainly exists but do you figure that it's the only one?

Isn't an amusing shortened colloquialism there? I have no idea what the history is, but I think Ross (or rather the writer of the script) intends it to sound slightly odd, in a funny way. Ross and Chandler often use words in odd ways...though Chandler is more likely to be doing it deliberately to sound funny.

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dlowan wrote:

JTT wrote:
SULLYFISH66 wrote:
Ross: Yeah, can't help but.

means:

(I) can not help but (see it.)

This sounds like a southern idiom, a short way of saying the above.

I've never even set foot in the south, Sully, Plantress. Do you think that this collocation could be part of other dialects? I agree that your interpretation certainly exists but do you figure that it's the only one?

Isn't an amusing shortened colloquialism there? I have no idea what the history is, but I think Ross (or rather the writer of the script) intends it to sound slightly odd, in a funny way. Ross and Chandler often use words in odd ways...though Chandler is more likely to be doing it deliberately to sound funny.

I was going to edit my last post to read;

I've never even set foot in the south, to my great regret, ... but the wabbit negated that opportunity.

It didn't even click that it was from that show, Dlowan, 'til you expanded on the characters. I wonder what the "them" were. A couple of things come to mind but they're the same things. Smile

Did anyone see that particular episode?

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Can't help but.

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