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Some years ago, after returning to New York from some years living abroad, I began to notice New Yorkers of a certain generation (in their 20s and early 30s) describing themselves or others as "from [neighborhood] by way of [city/state/country]," meaning that they now live in the named neighborhood, but originally come from the named city, state, or country.

This is backwards according to the usual meaning of "by way of." Normally, if one travels "from A by way of B," then one started at A and passed through B.

In those days, I saw this mainly in journals of perhaps lower editorial standards, such as Time Out New York (http://www.timeout.com/newyork) and Metro New York (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_New_York). More recently, this has appeared in a New York Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/nyregion/29acrobats.html), which quotes a woman with an obviously Hungarian name and describes her as "from Queens by way of Hungary."

Does anyone know when, where, or why this started?

EDIT

A related question about another instance of this usage:

What does "by way of" mean?

Some years ago, after returning to New York from some years living abroad, I began to notice New Yorkers of a certain generation (in their 20s and early 30s) describing themselves or others as "from [neighborhood] by way of [city/state/country]," meaning that they now live in the named neighborhood, but originally come from the named city, state, or country.

This is backwards according to the usual meaning of "by way of." Normally, if one travels "from A by way of B," then one started at A and passed through B.

In those days, I saw this mainly in journals of perhaps lower editorial standards, such as Time Out New York and Metro New York (see Metro New York - Wikipedia). More recently, this has appeared in a New York Times article, which quotes a woman with an obviously Hungarian name and describes her as "from Queens by way of Hungary."

Does anyone know when, where, or why this started?

EDIT

A related question about another instance of this usage:

What does "by way of" mean?

Some years ago, after returning to New York from some years living abroad, I began to notice New Yorkers of a certain generation (in their 20s and early 30s) describing themselves or others as "from [neighborhood] by way of [city/state/country]," meaning that they now live in the named neighborhood, but originally come from the named city, state, or country.

This is backwards according to the usual meaning of "by way of." Normally, if one travels "from A by way of B," then one started at A and passed through B.

In those days, I saw this mainly in journals of perhaps lower editorial standards, such as Time Out New York (http://www.timeout.com/newyork) and Metro New York (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_New_York). More recently, this has appeared in a New York Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/nyregion/29acrobats.html), which quotes a woman with an obviously Hungarian name and describes her as "from Queens by way of Hungary."

Does anyone know when, where, or why this started?

EDIT

A related question about another instance of this usage:

What does "by way of" mean?

Some years ago, after returning to New York from some years living abroad, I began to notice New Yorkers of a certain generation (in their 20s and early 30s) describing themselves or others as "from [neighborhood] by way of [city/state/country]," meaning that they now live in the named neighborhood, but originally come from the named city, state, or country.

This is backwards according to the usual meaning of "by way of." Normally, if one travels "from A by way of B," then one started at A and passed through B.

In those days, I saw this mainly in journals of perhaps lower editorial standards, such as Time Out New York (http://www.timeout.com/newyork) and Metro New York (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_New_York). More recently, this has appeared in a New York Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/nyregion/29acrobats.html), which quotes a woman with an obviously Hungarian name and describes her as "from Queens by way of Hungary."

Does anyone know when, where, or why this started?

EDIT

A related question about another instance of this usage:

What does "by way of" mean?