An "Ah So" Question

[Natalie Maynor]

Somebody not on ADS-L asked me to forward this question.  He's a
crossword-puzzle constructor, among other things (and sells his
crossword puzzles to major newspapers).

I should add before appending his note that by "where does 'ah so'
come from" he means in US usage -- as in the English mimicking of
Japanese.  I.e., he's not looking for the answer, "It comes from
Japanese."

Here's his question:

> One of life's little mysteries for
> crossword creators is where "Ah so" came from.  Does anyone
> have a clue?  Do a web search and you'll find that a number of
> people think they remember it from Charlie Chan movies.  A leading
> puzzle constructor wanted to use it in a clue that way, like
> "Chan expression" or something, but he couldn't because he hasn't
> been able to verify it.  I rented a couple of Chan movies starring
> Warner Oland and Sidney Toler, and neither of them ever said "Ah so"
> in those particular films.
>
> Of course, aside from movies, quite a few other actors have played
> Chan on TV and radio, including J. Carroll Naish on TV in '57-'58.
> This strikes me as promising, since TV was just getting to be a big
> phenomenon then, so I'm going to pick up a couple of those tapes.

--
 -- Natalie (natalie at maynor.net)