ah so

[Mark A. Mandel]

Natalie asks about the origin of "ah so". In Japanese, "Ah, so desu ka?"
(the "u" is voiceless or elided) is a very common backchannel response, ~~
"Oh, is that so?"

Given most Americans' level of awareness of the difference(s) between
Chinese and Japanese -- whether referring to the people or the languages --
it doesn't surprise me to find a phrase of Japanese origin, as I think it
is, attributed to a Chinese character.

-- Mark

   Mark A. Mandel : Dragon Systems, a Lernout & Hauspie company
          Mark_Mandel at dragonsys.com : Senior Linguist
 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02460, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com