The first time 'long time, no see' appeared in print was in the 1900 Western ' Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains, Or, the Last Voice from the Plains An Authentic Record of a Life Time of Hunting, Trapping, Scouting and Indian Fighting in the Far West, by William F. It turns out there are, at least, two strong possibilities. But how and why did such a grammatically awkward phrase become a widely accepted part of American speech? How many times has the average person been greeted with the phrase 'long time, no see' after running into an old acquaintance? My guess is plenty. Just how and why did the grammatically awkward phrase 'long-time-no-see' become a widely accepted part of American speech?
