Why “cannot” is being discussed
The most recent Hacker News stories and comments contributing to this topic's mentions.
That's exactly my point, Parliament is supreme. Constitutionally speaking, the Brexit referendum was advisory and could have been ignored. That would have been completely uncons…
by BoxOfRain · Oct 16, 2026
It is strange that everyone is so enthusiastic about the gratitude. If the crow were a Silicon Valley company and the woman an open source developer, we'd get: "Society owes you…
by 12948671 · Oct 16, 2026
It's not a class thing: Poor folks get stuck with bills for high-priced services too just like the rest of us. Outside the HN commentor demographic, most people do not know how…
by bityard · Oct 16, 2026
A license is a contract or contract term waiving certain rights to sue. That’s what a copyright license is. And yes, you cannot issue a valid license if you don’t have the right…
by mountainb · Oct 16, 2026
It is a fact that Russia is fighting a NATO trained, NATO armed, NATO supported and NATO financed Ukrainian army. (Otherwise, why is Zelensky worried that the US might cutoff in…
by thisislife2 · Oct 16, 2026
> And as we're seeing, even the best democratic tradition doesn't stand a chance against economic misfortune. This fact is why I think regardless of governing ideology, it's in…
by BoxOfRain · Oct 16, 2026
Interest
Proportion of Hacker News items mentioning "cannot" over time.
Mentions
Total number of Hacker News items mentioning "cannot" over time.
The English modal auxiliary verbs are a subset of the English auxiliary verbs used mostly to express modality, properties such as possibility and obligation. They can most easily be distinguished from other verbs by their defectiveness (they do not have participles or plain forms) and by their lack of the ending ‑(e)s for the third-person singular. Read more on Wikipedia