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12 July 2010

oh snap! I just realized that the 'urban' slang "finna" is a contraction of the phrase "fixing to"..→[More:]

which leads me to note that a lot of things we think of as related to black language or communities in the States (words like "finna", "y'all", certain foods) are actually derived from (white+black) Southern U.S. slang and customs.. how interesting is that?

post by: Firas at: 21:05 | 22 comments

"fixing to" being slang itself -- I am often getting teased for saying that. Along with "might could" and "useta could."

And I've NEVER thought of "y'all" as strictly black -- I'm a white Southerner and grew up saying it.

But, I've never heard "finna," (how is that pronounced? It doesn't sound like "fixin' to" at all to me.) so there you go, although it has been 16(!) years since I've lived in the South.

posted by JanetLand 12 July | 21:15

JanetLand, yeah I too think of "y'all" as having stronger southern connotations than black connotations

usage of 'finna':

"they finna stomp his ass out"

"he finna take over the game"

think of it as a substitute for 'gonna'

posted by Firas 12 July | 21:20

Yeah, I get the meaning, but the word is just "FIN-ah"? I still don't see how you get there from "FIX-in to."

posted by JanetLand 12 July | 21:23

yeah I have no idea about how that's derived either. maybe it's cause people were pronouncing the 'to' part as 'ta'/'tuh' (now that I think of it I'm not 100% sure on the pronunciation of the contraction)

posted by Firas 12 July | 21:27

another dialectical tic that can help produce that contraction is that people drop consonants in between ('everybody'->'errbody', 'totally'->'toally', etc.)

posted by Firas 12 July | 21:28

It just seems like the X is so strong, I don't see how it dropped out. But that's a question for academe, I guess.

posted by JanetLand 12 July | 21:30

Do you come across a lot of US southern slang in your neighborhood, Firas?

posted by mullacc 12 July | 21:44

absolutely, mullacc! alas the cowboys here gotta avoid being caught for slaughtering cows

posted by Firas 12 July | 21:46

I was in my 30s before I realized that only us southerners said "might could."

I've never heard anyone actually say "finna"... like JanetLand suggests, most people here say it more like "fixna." I think "finna" is a product of southern slang meeting New York accents.

posted by BoringPostcards 12 July | 22:06

posted by Miko 12 July | 22:44

a lot of things we think of as related to black language or communities in the States (words like "finna", "y'all", certain foods) are actually derived from (white+black) Southern U.S. slang and customs

Yeah, this is an essential feature of the dialect generally known as AAVE (African-American Vernacular English). There are regional variations, but a lot of Black English is really similar to Southern. The reason for this is the Great Migration, which brought many poor Southern blacks to major cities outside the South looking for industrial jobs. In those days, too, they actually found them, which formed a tenuous black middle class, but then in the 1970s the jobs left for the suburbs.

Anyway, just been watching The Wire, which has a lot of black characters saying "a'ight" as a contraction of "all right". The t is barely heard.

posted by dhartung 12 July | 22:44

I think "finna" is a product of southern slang meeting New York accents.

I think this might be true, and that it really migrates from "Gonna." I never heard "finna" growing up, but did hear fixin' to.

And what dhartung said. Interestingly, Southern accents didn't only spread through the country with black people - they also went with out-migrating whites who moved to California and the Northeast during the Depression. The Harvard Dialect Survey found survivals of southern speech in California (planted there by fleeing Okies); and people are often confused by Bruce Springsteen's accent, which is a legitimate New Jersey accent, arising from large numbers of southerners migrating for manufacturing jobs just before World War II.

posted by Miko 12 July | 22:47

I don't know about "finna," but rural southern dialects in the U.S. are, I believe, actually closer to Shakespearean English than any other English. It's not that a lot of the phrases/contractions/spellings are new "slang"; rather, they're held over four-hundred-odd-year-old "slang."

posted by Pips 12 July | 22:54

Pips, you reminded me of this article: Did Americans in 1776 have British accents?

The food thing is important too I think, even some of the darker stereotypes (watermelon ..) can be traced to a southern thing. like peach cobbler

posted by Firas 12 July | 23:05

Anyway, just been watching The Wire, which has a lot of black characters saying "a'ight" as a contraction of "all right". The t is barely heard.

Oh yeah, that one I've heard a lot (and said).

posted by JanetLand 13 July | 05:30

I can sort of imagine the x getting swallowed like mitten's tt. The way I say it, there's no T sound in mitten.

So I wonder if it went to "fi'n to", then to "fi'n-ta", then to "finna".

posted by fleacircus 13 July | 07:09

finna = fittin' to, variation of fixin' to
Pronunciation: "fi" is like the "fi" in "finland" + another VERY short "ih" sound + "nuh" (same sound as "none")

fi'ih'nuh

posted by desjardins 13 July | 07:45

I thought "a'ight" was a Jamaicanism.

posted by Obscure Reference 13 July | 08:51

What desjardins said.

posted by rainbaby 13 July | 09:29

Where I grew up, it was more like "FIDD-enn-uh." Three syllables, not two. Short for "fixin' to," not "fittin' to."

I think the D sound came into play (or to look at it another way, the X sound got dropped) for the same reason that 'wasn't' and 'doesn't' turn into 'wuddn't' and 'duddn't'. (Both of which I still say. I don't have much of an accent anymore, or so everyone tells me, but I do feel slightly embarrassed when I catch myself doing that around people who don't think I have an accent. I assume they think I simply don't know how to spell. As far as I know, I NEVER pronounce 'wasn't' and 'doesn't' with an S.)

posted by mudpuppie 13 July | 10:50

I've heard the two syllable "fin-uh" quite a bit, but I suppose that's the young, urban, black version that reaches me through hip-hop.

"A'ight" was around all through the 90s in AZ. I figured it came to us from SoCal, but I have no reason to expect it originated in SoCal.

Interestingly, Southern accents didn't only spread through the country with black people - they also went with out-migrating whites who moved to California and the Northeast during the Depression.

Would this have also spread to eastern Washington state? I've met at least one person from east WA who everyone thought was from Texas. He claimed it was a common accent in his region.

posted by mullacc 13 July | 12:02

good thread. thanks for the info all

posted by Firas 16 July | 22:42

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