| 词组 | how come |
| 释义 | how come How come is a familiar phrase of obscure origin that first came to attention as an Americanism in the middle of the 19th century. We say "of obscure origin" because for a time there was considerable speculation about its origin. It was considered dialectal and was supposed to be a shortening of such phrases as "How are you coming on?" "How are things coming toward you?" "How comes it that ... ?" "How came it ... ?" and "How do you come on?" Some of these expressions were used in the East, according to Vizetelly 1922, and one or two were held to be common in northern Ireland. A later commentator, in Proceedings of the American Dialect Society 14 (November 1950), associates the phrase with Gullah hukkuh. Interest in its origin seems to have waned since. Vizetelly finds the phrase to be "of ambiguous meaning," as well he might, given the strange phrases he lists as its possible origin. But the only obscure example we have seen is in the OED Supplement and is taken from T. S. Eliot's Sweeney Agonistes. All the others seem to mean "why," and, if we do need a longer phrase to derive it from, "how comes it..." would seem adequate from the standpoint of meaning (Krapp 1927 phrases it as "how does it come," which seems a bit stilted.) Krapp labels it colloquial and slang; Evans 1957, Bernstein 1965, and Harper 1975, 1985 (deriving it from "How does it come about that ... ?") find how come unsuitable in writing. Reader's Digest 1983 dismisses it as "informal only." Flesch 1964 finds it an acceptable and useful idiom, however, and Safire 1982 defends it spiritedly against Bernstein, Evans, and Harper, as well as a couple of correspondents. One of Safire's correspondents mentions being corrected in fourth grade, so the disapproval of how come may be part of schoolteacher tradition too. How come is a little bit like the verb bust: its use in writing is on a higher level than its use in speech seems to be—it is a social climber in print. Its rise in respectability probably started after World War II. We have many journalistic examples: • If a marine's "everyday routine" is so simple, how come the Army couldn't hold the Naktong River twice without them? —Time, 23 Apr. 1951 • And yet for all this self-indulgence, he has managed somehow to achieve what Max Beerbohm called in his own case "a very pleasant little reputation." How come? —Joseph Wood Krutch, Saturday Rev., 30 Jan. 1954 • One thing they're studying now is how come the porpoise can swim so fast with so little power —Richard Joseph, Esquire, August 1965 • How come the ensemble can dance precisely in 5/4 time, but when 16 swans bow to the prince they bend over haphazardly at 16 different angles? —Nancy Goldner, N.Y. Times Mag., 30 May 1976 • And, for that matter, how come they never have donuts in Peking ... ? —And More by Andy Rooney, 1982 • Construction was obviously not stone, but iron. How come? —Edwards Park, Smithsonian, February 1985 • Most of the "eak" verbs are regular—leaked, peaked, squeaked, streaked. Then you get speak-spoke. How come? I don't know —James J. Kilpatrick, Pittsburgh Press Sunday Mag, 29 Sept. 1985 Writers simply seem to find how come a sassier— Safire says "nastier"—and more emphatic why. We have not yet found it in surroundings more elevated than those we have quoted. |
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