Long time no see

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>... what is the origin of the phrase "long time no see"? The first
>citation in the OED would
>suggest that it was a jocular imitation of the broken English spoken by
>Indians:
>
>1900 W. F. Drannan 31 Yrs. on Plains (1901) xxxvii. 515 When we rode up to
>him [sc. an American Indian] he said: 'Good mornin. Long time no see you.'

Hendrickson ("Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins") claims it's from
Chinese via pidgin English. Sounds believable to me.

He gives the Chinese as "ch'ang chih mei", meaning the same thing. I am
skeptical and I think there is an error here: maybe "ch'ang shih mei k'an"
can fill the bill, but I'll defer to any Chinese-expert.

-- Doug Wilson