Origins and Use of 'How Come'

Mignon explains how 'how come' likely evolved, its regional use, informality, and grammatical differences from why.

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1144. This week, we look at the origin of the letter X as the variable for the unknown in algebra. Then, we look at the phrase "how come," explaining why it's more informal than "why" and how its grammar subtly differs from other question words.

That X segment was written by Peter Schumer, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Middlebury College, and it originally appeared on The Conversation and appears here through a Creative Commons license.

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