NIT PICKING ALERT
The message seems to be that "uncouth" is an antonym for "couth," but the converse is not entirely true - in that the familiar meaning of "uncouth" is not the one which is an antonym of the dictionary definition of "couth." Thus, the use of "couth" as a noun rather than an adjective, intending it as an antonym for the second meaning of "uncouth" when it is an antonym only for the first, is itself uncouth, and deliberately so.
- couth (Obsolete): Known, familiar, noted. Cf. UNCOUTH.
- uncouth:
- Unfamiliar or strange; hence, mysterious; uncanny.
- Outlandish; awkward in appearance or bearing; rude; boorish; of speech, manners, etc, rugged and untrained; harsh or blunt;unrefined.
- cooth: no entry.
(end nit picking) I guess if you're gonna be deliberately uncouth in your usage of "couth" in order to emphasize the meaning of "uncouth," you might as well go all the way and misspell the word while you're at it. Congratulations.
OK. It is an idiom that my parents used. They were just hick hayseeds from Kansas City with a seat on the NY stock exchange and eulogized in the congressional record. Wouldn't hold a candle to charlie Rangel.