Long time no see

"Long time no see" is an English expression used as an informal greeting by people who have not seen each other for an extended period.

For other uses, see Long time no see (disambiguation).

Its origins in American English appear to be an imitation of broken or pidgin English,[1] and despite its ungrammaticality, it is widely accepted as a fixed expression. The phrase is a multiword expression that cannot be explained by the usual rules of English grammar due to the irregular syntax.[2] It may derive ultimately from an English pidgin such as that spoken by Native Americans or Chinese, or an imitation of such.[3] The lexicographer Eric Partridge notes that the phrase is akin to "no can do" and "chop chop".[4]

Origin

The phrase "long time no see" first appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1901.

In literature

The phrase can be found in Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains, by author W. F. Drannan, which recorded a Native American man greeting the narrator by saying, "Good morning. Long time no see you."[1] This example reflects usage in American Indian Pidgin English.

Another early use of the phrase in record, though not as a greeting, may be found in the 1843 publication by James Campbell, titled Excursions, Adventures, and Field-Sports in Ceylon: "Ma-am—long time no see wife—want go to Colombo see wife."[5]

References
  1. "long (a.1 c)". Oxford English Dictionary. 1989. Retrieved September 7, 2010.
  2. cited as an example by Attia, Mohammed A. (2006). "Accommodating Multiword Expressions in an Arabic LFG Grammar". In Salakoski, Tapio (Ed.) Fifth International Conference on Natural Language Processing, pp. 87–109. Springer. ISBN 3-540-37334-9.
  3. Gandhi, Lakshmi (2014). "Who First Said 'Long Time, No See' And In Which Language?". Code Switch. NPR. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
  4. Partridge, Eric, and Beale, Paul (2002). A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, p. 1386. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-29189-5, ISBN 978-0-415-29189-7.
  5. Campbell, James (1843). Excursions, Adventures, and Field-Sports in Ceylon; Its Commercial and Military Importance, and Numerous Advantages to the British Emigrant, Vol. 1, p. 254. London: T. and W. Boone.
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