Date: Mon, 27 Feb 1995 09:01:29 CDT

From: Randy Roberts robertsr[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]EXT.MISSOURI.EDU

Subject: Long time, no see



There is an early article on pidgin English which talks about long

time, no see; looke see; no can do; etc., which attributes all to

Chinese. See Arno L. Bader, "The Anatomy of Living Language," in

WORDS, vol. 4, no. 6 (September 1938), pp. 86-88.



You might also look at Mamie Meredith's article in AMERICAN SPEECH of

December 1929.



There are also entries for look see in Fraser & Gibbons, SOLDIER &

SAILOR WORDS & PHRASES (London: 1925); and F. C. Bowen, SEA SLANG, A

DICTIONARY OF OLD-TIMERS' EXPRESSIONS AND EPITHETS (London: ca. 1930).

Bowen labels the term as pidgin English of the China Coast.



On a different track, Peter Tamony collected an early use of long time

no see as a caption under an illustration showing two Indians on foot

addressing a white scout on horseback. This example comes from

William F. Drannan, THIRTY ONE YEARS ON THE PLAINS AND IN THE

MOUNTAINS (Chicago: 1900), p. 580.



Randy Roberts

University of Missouri-Columbia

robertsr[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ext.missouri.edu