• sirrobert
    "How come" means "how did it come to be that." For example:

    "Why are lemons sour?"
    "How did it come to be that lemons are sour?"
    "How come lemons are sour?"
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    More historically (and less explanitorily than above):

    The first use known is from1548 by Hall in Chronicle: "How commeth this that there are so many Newe Testamentes abrode?"

    In England by the early 1600s it was in common use "how comes it that ... ?" which was a common construction of the equivalent "How came this to be, that ... ?"

    It came to America where it first became "how come?"
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