finna

[Wilson Gray]

On Sep 8, 2004, at 1:53 PM, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
> Subject:      Re: finna
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>
> On Wed, Sep 08, 2004 at 01:39:52PM -0400, Orin Hargraves wrote:
>> Can anyone fill me in on finna? I keep coming across it in blogs;
>> seems to be
>> a straightforward substitute for “gonna.” Random examples:
>>
>> This isn't finished at all. it's finna be epic.
>>
>> Jacob wants to go to the beach, but I'm finna stay in the city and
>> just relax.
>>
>> imma let her have all the easy shots because im finna take tha ball
>> and make
>> tha game a lil harder.
>>
>> What’s the pronunciation? And why does f substitute for g?
>> Is it mainly AAVE? — that’s the impression I get from context.
>
> This is a reduced form of _fixing to_ i.e. 'to be about to; to
> be planning to; to be going to' etc. I probably see _finta_ more often.
>
> I assume DARE covers this, but I don't have my copy handy.
>
> Jesse Sheidlower
> OED
>

I haven't checked DARE, but you are correct, sir, I daresay, though I'm
more accustomed to _fitna_ and _fin-na_, i.e. with long /n/, than
_finta_, But that's probably just by chance.

BTW, my wife, a native of Pennsylvania who's unused to hearing any form
of Southern speech, thinks that "ret" is a real word in BE. She's heard
people say, e.g. "I'm [rEt] to go." So, instead of saying "I'm ready,"
when she's talking to me, she will often say, "I'm ret," with no clue
that that string can mean only, "I'm Rhett," if it can mean anything at
all.

-Wilson Gray