Short English lesson - Why? = How come?

Question

I thought this might be an interesting bit for English learners.

Sometimes in spoken English (my experience being in the USA) when a person wants to ask a "Why" question, he uses "How come". I think this is probably considered colloquial and informal usage but it is quite common where I live.

Examples: Speaker A: Stan and Alice aren't getting married after all.

Speaker B: Oh really? How come? (meaning why not).

How come you never visit us anymore?

Notice the difference in wording if you say "Why":

Why do you never visit us anymore?

How come you're using your teeth to open that?

Why are you using your teeth to open that?

Put your comments as an answer and I'll give you a vote.

We use it also mate , how come is that ? - ray76, Aug 10, 2014

But, we usually say ,'how is that ' or 'owzat' which is also a cricket term. - ray76, Aug 10, 2014

Answer 1

I've heard that it's a contraction of "how does it come to be." It is a normal part of spoken English, and even of some, mostly informal, writing. However, even though it is not incorrect, I don't like the way it sounds and I don't use it.

I never knew this, but the original phrase makes sense. It sounds classy too, much better than the lazy variant - 005faa61, Aug 10, 2014

I think that's true add "that" to the phrase and it makes sense. For Spanish speakers in the US it helps to know some of our speech patterns no matter how bad they sound. - Jubilado, Aug 10, 2014

@rac1: Well you were the only "answer" and aside from JulianChivi, no Spanish speakers responded. Thanks for your input! - Jubilado, Aug 11, 2014

Answer 2

We also use this very frequently where I live in the US. I think the difference has more to do with context. "How come" seems a bit less provocative as compared to "why."

"Why don't you ever call me?" versus "How come you never call me?" for example. "Why" seems to imply more of an accusation and maybe even a bit of anger/irritation in certain contexts but "how come" seems more informal and less accusative. At least that's what the difference seems to be to me but both are correct either way even though "how come" is less formal.

Excellent post! I feel the same way about its usage. - Jubilado, Aug 12, 2014

Answer 3

Thank you very much for the information, Jubilado. It is indeed very usefull for English learners!

Thanks for your input even after I had given up hearing from anyone else. You've been here a long time, right? - Jubilado, Aug 11, 2014