Why to some say "How come" instead of "Why"?

Answer 1

"Why?" is basically a way of asking, "How did this come about?", shortened to "How come?".

Answer 2

The expression is simply an abbreviated version (which became common in 19th American speech) of "How comes it that..? --which you will find in English writings going back at least to Shakespeare. The full form of the question in modern English would be something like "How did it come about that...?" or "How did it come to be...?"

The reason that people would say just "come" (as also in "How comes it?") instead of "come about" is that this is an older sense of the verb "come" that means "become, come to be".
Nowadays if we wanted to use a fuller form we would be more likely to ask "How is it that?"

Actually, it was originally a more precise question than our word "why?" "Why" can be used to ask about the PURPOSE of something** (e.g., asking "Why did you say that?" to find out what someone hoped to accomplish by saying it) as well to inquire about the ORIGINS/CAUSE of something (e.g., "Why do we say it this way?" when we want an explanation of the HISTORY of an expression like "how come?") "How come(s it that)?" originally only referred to the origins (in other words you used exactly the right form in the way you framed your question! Congratulations!)

**An older way of specifically asking the purpose (or end), is "wherefore" (meaning 'for what [purpose]?') But, of course, we don't always make nice distinctions like this.

Answer 3

An old New Brunswick Maratime expression.

Answer 4

That's kid talk. "How come the sky is blue?" Where do kids pick up "how come" though? Hmm.... I say "why" personally. Like, "Why am I answering this question when I don't really know why people say 'how come'?"

Answer 5

As a southern girl, we got tired of hearing why from the kids

Answer 6

Because that is the way they were brought up... There are a lot of people who talk like others...

Answer 7

It's just a shortened version of "How did that come about?"

Answer 8

because How Come? sounds more polite and smart

Answer 9

It's a dialect thing.