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Is it a shortened version of "How did it come to be?"
I think your speculation is on-target. "How come?" and the less-frequently heard "how so?", probably both have their origins in the truncation of "how did it come to be so?" It is interesting to note, though, that "how come" is just as likely to petition a justification in the present or future time frame as it is to request a narrative explanation based on the past, e.g., "How come you're not going to go to the wedding?" I think the usage is probably universal among English-speaking peoples.
You're not going to believe this, but this is actually part of a topic I've been meaning to introduce for some time now. There are actually two sorts of "why?" in the English languages; we use the same word for both but other languages distinguish them with different terms.
First is the "how come?" version, which I assume, as did you, is a short form of something like "how did it come to be?" Let's call this the "causal why".
Then there's the "what for?" version. One way of expanding this one might be "what is the purpose for this?" Call it the "purposeful why".
You can get different answers to the same question depending upon which "why" your listener thinks you meant:
Question: "Why is the remote control in the freezer?"
Causal answer: "My roommate must have left it there."
Purposeful answer: "The batteries last longer if you keep them cold."
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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