" "How come?" is actually a very interesting phrase. It seems to have been an American invention of the 19th century, although similar forms date back several hundred years in English. The first appearance of "how come" in print dates to 1848, but since that was in Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms and the phrase was described as being common at that time, it is almost certainly older. That was, after all, an age when slang and colloquial phrases were usually avoided, not memorialized, in print.
The basic sense of the verb "come" is, of course, " to move towards, approach" or " to arrive." One of the specialized, and now archaic, meanings of "come" is " to happen," as in the phrase " to come to pass," reflecting the idea of a condition, time or event "arriving" (also found in such uses as "Come next summer, Dwayne Junior had better have a job").
"How" used as an adverb modifying a verb (such as "come"), means basically " by what means?" or "for what reason?"
The final piece of the puzzle of "how come" is the fact that it is actually an abbreviation of a longer phrase, which, although not known with certainty, was probably "how comes it" or "how does it come", meaning "how did this (event, condition, etc.) happen to be this way."
Finally, "How come?" is, as you note, essentially synonymous with "why?", but in popular usage it often serves a slightly different function. "How come?" carries a challenging, more emphatic tone than a simple "why?" would convey ("How come Jimmy never has to wash the dishes?"). Unlike "why," "how come" strongly suggests that the questioner has already developed an opinion on the situation and has decided that something is not proper or fair. "
Picking flowers, do you love them or not, it NOT a phrase!
come to me. lets emabrase
Aviation etiquette.
From hell.
"Wishing for dreams to come true" is the gerund phrase.
Which phrase does not come from the Preamble to the Constitution?
A prepositional phrase can come before a noun (or pronoun):At the party Jack played the piano.A prepositional phrase includes a noun (or pronoun):Jack played the piano at the party.A prepositional phrase can come after a noun (or pronoun):Jack played the piano at the party.A prepositional phrase can come after a verb:Jack played at the party.
The phrase comes from FRENCH.
Picking flowers, do you love them or not, it NOT a phrase!
This phrase pre dates 1950
come to me. lets emabrase
A common use of this phrase would be, "Where did you come from?"
the phrase hit the sack came from Germany.
strength come in number
The correct phrase is "come into effect." This is the standard phrasing when referring to something becoming effective or operative.
Wishing for dreams to come true is the gerund phrase
Wishing for dreams to come true is the gerund phrase