How come " why come"
Hi,
My friends an I had an argument the other day on whether it is appropriate to use "why come" in sentences where it might sound more appropriate than "how come" .Does anyone know for sure if it is grammatically correct to do that?
I haven't heard "why come." The traditional phrase is "how come." It makes sense as a shortened form of questions like "How did it come to be that Antarctica is covered with ice?"
I have heard "why come" in the past, although I no longer hear it. I thought at the time that it was a deliberately ungrammatical piece of whimsy, an amalgamation of "why" and "how come." Does anyone know differently? SS
I believe it's chiefly used in Ebonics, or Urban slang, or Hip-Hop slang.
Replies
- How come " why come" David FG 22/February/05