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