Comments on: How Come?

By: Jamal

Jamal — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:37:01 +0000

Personally I feel that:
A question of WHY can be very large in scoop, and a question of HOW COME is more direct. A question of “why” to me is one of not much thought towards an real conclusion towards one answer but of many. While “how come” is asking for a conclusion to one answer. Both generalize a question towards some conclusion of an answer, but it all depends on its packaging and it’s use within that contex and how you as the interpreter, interpret it.

By: Sveda

Sveda — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:36:24 +0000

In Swedish you can say “hur kommer” which is like “how come or how will”. So it could be just a translation from Norse. We also say “varfor” which means “why” but could translate directly from Swedish as “where for” as in the English: wherefore art thou. As you learn many languages, you see that English has many words that are just translated from other languages. Language always fascinates me!

By: Jason L

Jason L — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 00:05:39 +0000

In my Korean language class, we learned the phrase:
??? ????? (pronounced: Eodhukay Ohshyusseumnikka).
It literally translates to: How have (you) come?. Korean’s don’t typically use a subject when referring to a person so the word “you” is implied by context. It can also mean “How come?”
The phrase is used in the sense of “How may I help you?” or “What brings you here?”; spoken by a store clerk or the like.
It is interesting that this seems to be similar to the English phrase “How Come?”

By: Charles

Charles — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 16:37:33 +0000

Another interesting issue is that, while “how come” is semantically (nearly) the same as “why,” syntactically it is different.

“Why didn’t you go?” shows usual reverse-word-order question form.

“How come you didn’t go?” uses declarative sentence word order.

This may be another reason why both why and how come are preserved in the language.

By: Marcos Miranda

Marcos Miranda — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 13:05:35 +0000

“Why”, has moral implications associated with it where as “How” is neutral.

By: Lou

Lou — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 15:08:17 +0000

What’s interesting is I find the phrases to have the exact opposite implication. I find “Why?” to be more negative and opinionated, and “How come?” to be gentler and more sympathetic.

A friend stayed home from work recently and I asked “Oh, how come?” because I was wondering if she was sick. To me, asking “Why?” would be more like saying “Um, why’d you do that?!”

By: Chris J

Chris J — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:04:50 +0000

I agree with Bo, it seems to me to be a contraction of “How did it come to pass” or “How did it come to be”. Which is essentially “Why”, but a bit different.

Now, when I hear people say “Why come”, it makes me ill… but maybe it’s a short for of “Why did it come to pass”?

Hmm….

By: Dara Childs

Dara Childs — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:07:44 +0000

I was corrected as a child not to use this phrase. If I did, my dad would say “what?” until I responded with “why” instead of “how come”. He used to say “how come” is not a proper word and it is not in the dictionary. To this day I am unable to hear the phrase without cringing. It sounds uneducated. If I could have looked this up 30 years ago I would have pointed it out to my father, but I doubt it would have mattered.

By: Mikki Moore

Mikki Moore — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:50:27 +0000

I want to know how to use the phrase “and how”. I’ve heard it used, and I have used it before to convey that “I concur”. Am I using it properly?

By: Bo

Bo — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:52:28 +0000

I suspect it became a contraction of “How does it come to be that way?”

By: Carla

Carla — Sat, 16 May 2009 21:53:40 +0000

what about in older lit like Shakespeare where people would ask “how came you to …”?