# "Trying to" is now "tryna"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 28, 2019, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623 "2019-10-28T22:39:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2019, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/1 "2019-10-28T22:39:29Z")
As in “I’m _tryna_ get the housework done fast…” Am I the last person to find this out? Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2019, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/2 "2019-10-28T22:44:19Z")
You encountered this in writing? I’ve been known ta mangle the language some myself, but when I do I gotta say I’m doin’ it wit’ malice aforethought. (As distinct from ‘malice afore thought’.) I concede mild dismay at the ideer of a person writin’ like that serious-like. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2019, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/3 "2019-10-28T22:50:48Z")
Never encountered that. Gotta get out more, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2019, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/4 "2019-10-28T22:54:29Z")
Yes. I’m okay with it, but it took me a month to figure out what “bae” meant. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2019, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/5 "2019-10-28T22:55:20Z")
It was a black thing at first. Then as usual, white people stole it. Or so, I’ve come to gather from Facebook. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2019, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/6 "2019-10-28T22:55:31Z")
“The way I figger,” Buck yawned, “She done it. Tryna make it look bad for Gay, mebbe.” -Will Thomas, _God is for White Folk_, 1947 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2019, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/7 "2019-10-28T23:03:14Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in writing, but, yeah, in rapid speech, my “trying to” comes out as either “tryin-uh” or “tryin-tuh,” depending. It’s not anything new as far as the way I talk is concerned. Been doing that my whole life (I’m in my 40s), as far as I know. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2019, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/8 "2019-10-28T23:05:19Z")
Them kids are finna confuse you. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2019, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/9 "2019-10-28T23:07:21Z")
Imma have to axk you to stop tryna figure it out. I finna get mad. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2019, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/10 "2019-10-28T23:12:55Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > “The way I figger,” Buck yawned, “She done it. Tryna make it look bad for Gay, mebbe.” > -Will Thomas, _God is for White Folk_, 1947 WHOA! That’s a year before I was born… okay. Not new exactly… Here are examples in the [Washington Post](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22tryna%22+site:washingtonpost.com&client=firefox-b-1-d&sxsrf=ACYBGNS9B3CMtULcnuE6P_MLS7ixUhKQHA:1572304150226&source=lnt&tbs=qdr:y&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjGoumyicDlAhUJbKwKHboLB-8QpwUIJg&biw=1267&bih=791) from the last year. That’s where I saw it in writing. All are quotes, which you can see from the google snippets. From these examples as well as Miller’s, it does seem to be black usage/dialect. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2019, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/11 "2019-10-28T23:17:18Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > WHOA! That’s a year before I was born… okay. Not new exactly… > > Here are examples in the [Washington Post](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22tryna%22+site:washingtonpost.com&client=firefox-b-1-d&sxsrf=ACYBGNS9B3CMtULcnuE6P_MLS7ixUhKQHA:1572304150226&source=lnt&tbs=qdr:y&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjGoumyicDlAhUJbKwKHboLB-8QpwUIJg&biw=1267&bih=791) from the last year. That’s where I saw it in writing. All are quotes, which you can see from the google snippets. From these examples as well as Miller’s, it does seem to be black usage/dialect. Wait, newspapers are using phonetic spelling in quotations now? ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2019, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/12 "2019-10-28T23:26:34Z")
I assume most of them are quotes of tweets, where spelling like “tryna” is more common. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/13 "2019-10-29T00:26:54Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > Wait, newspapers are using phonetic spelling in quotations now? Those sounds you hear are fissures in the foundation of good usage in newspapers and the equivalent. Elsewhere I cited MSNBC for using “discrete” when it should have been “discreet.” _Discrete_, of course, is a word. But it means something different from _discreet_. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/14 "2019-10-29T00:37:51Z")
I see a buncha these kinda spellings on texts from the lil’wrekker. I tend to pick them up. I really hate 'prolley ’ for ‘probably’, though. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/15 "2019-10-29T00:56:12Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > I assume most of them are quotes of tweets, where spelling like “tryna” is more common. I don’t see anything in those search results that aren’t quotes of tweets or lyrics (I only see 9 results). So those are properly quoted. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/16 "2019-10-29T01:10:08Z")
I’ve been saying something like tryina for as long as I can remember (which is a good long time). Just like wanna, gonna, cooda, and shooda. Interestingly, the sentences “This is the man I wanna succeed” has a completely different meaning from “This is the man I wanta succeed” though they are both from the ambiguous “This is the man I want to succeed”. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/17 "2019-10-29T10:50:18Z")
It’s a text-speak thing. You see it all over twitter. It’s how I talk but I find it jarring in print. Also, when you see something cute, it’s no longer “aw” or “awwww”, it’s “awe”. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/18 "2019-10-29T11:01:14Z")
I’ve used “imma” in casual written language for a while. I like to think that for all his ego, that will actually be Kanye’s legacy to mankind. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/19 "2019-10-29T12:05:28Z")
I’ve also noticed “I ain’t tryna” (in SAE, “I am not trying to”) means the slightly different “I am trying to avoid”… as in “I ain’t tryna hit that car”. Language is interesting! ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/20 "2019-10-29T12:38:01Z")
In my British accent it’s tryunta. I don’t know if that makes it any better 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623.md?page=2)