finna

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>This whole complex of reduced and possibly morphologized forms of "fixing
>to" is new to me, and fascinating.  I have never heard it - much less seen
>it written - in East Tennessee. Which means precisely nothing.
>
>I can still remember the weirdness I felt when I first noticed teens
>saying, "So I was like, 'What's going on?' and she was like, 'What's the
>matter?"   There were four of 'em sitting right across the aisle from me
>on a LIRR car in 1983 or '84.
>
>More onstructively, I hope: Let's remember that "fixing to" itself began
>as expressing intentionality but has evolved into a simple future in at
>least some cases: "It's fixing to rain."
>
>I have many colleagues who use getting ready to" in this way, and I don't
>know if it's particularly Southern: "It looks like it's getting ready to rain."

"Fixing to" still looks like an expression of intentionality to me. "Fixing
to rain" = "getting prepared to rain" AFAIK. I hear sometimes -- and say
myself -- things like "It's planning to rain like crazy any minute" or
"It's not raining yet but it's been thinking about it all morning".

-- Doug Wilson