# "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:** 2
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/21 "2019-10-29T14:05:23Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I really hate 'prolley ’ for ‘probably’, though. I knew an audio salesperson who was describing a speaker cabinet to a customer. “What are these speaker cones made of?” “They’re polypropylene.” “Well, could you find out for sure and let me know?” ---
**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, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/22 "2019-10-29T14:09:07Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I knew an audio salesperson who was describing a speaker cabinet to a customer. > “What are these speaker cones made of?” > “They’re polypropylene.” > “Well, could you find out for sure and let me know?” 😃 Ba-da- **bing**! _ssssssh_… ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/23 "2019-10-29T14:15:15Z")
It’s actually spelled _trying to_? I suppose you’re gonna tell me ‘gonna’ is actually spelled \*going to \*as well. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/24 "2019-10-29T14:27:59Z")
As best as I can tell, “tryna” and “imma”, “fidna” and the like are mostly deliberate attempts to convey AAVE via texting/email in a phonetic fashion. ---
**Author:** ![Kovitlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kovitlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kovitlac)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/25 "2019-10-29T15:06:22Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > It was a black thing at first. Then as usual, white people stole it. > > Or so, I’ve come to gather from Facebook. Sounds like a pretty commonly used verbal contraction to me. People have been saying it this way for years - it’s obviously people wouldn’t eventually move toward spelling it out. Doesn’t mean anything was _stolen_, good grief. ---
**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, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/26 "2019-10-29T15:08:48Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > It’s actually spelled _trying to_? I suppose you’re gonna tell me ‘gonna’ is actually spelled \*going to \*as well. Your comment dunna make sense ta me. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/27 "2019-10-29T17:06:15Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > 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. I’ll say tryna an’ prolley in casual speech. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/28 "2019-10-29T17:08:52Z")
I see “prolly” as a special case when used as answer to a question, similar to “d’oh”, or “duh”. The elision sorta makes it work. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/29 "2019-10-29T17:13:13Z")
> [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](#): > > In my British accent it’s tryunta. I don’t know if that makes it any better 🙂 British accents make \*everything \*better 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/30 "2019-10-29T18:40:20Z")
Why is it ‘imma’ and not ‘Ima’? ---
**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 29, 2019, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/31 "2019-10-29T18:47:16Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Why is it ‘imma’ and not ‘Ima’? I suspect so it’ll look more wrong. Seriously, that’s part of the appeal - if I’m gonna say or write gonna, I’m doing it to appear more casual. So wronger is betterer. I mean, if they were trying to spell it _right_, they’d spell it “I’ma”. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/32 "2019-10-29T19:06:00Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > I suspect so it’ll look more wrong. Seriously, that’s part of the appeal - if I’m gonna say or write gonna, I’m doing it to appear more casual. So wronger is betterer. > > I mean, if they were trying to spell it _right_, they’d spell it “I’ma”. Spelling is weird. If they were gonna spell\* right\* right it’d be spelt _rite_ or something like that. But yeah, that’s what I’m saying about ‘prolly’. It can emphasize the wrongness for effect. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/33 "2019-10-29T19:09:50Z")
Its dialect so it can be written any number of ways: I’ma, Ima, Imma, I’m a, and so on. But I would bet a sawbuck that the tendency to use I’mma or Imma is a result of its history. It’s not an elided version of “I am a”, but rather “I am going to”. “I am going to”\>“I’m going to”\>“I’m gonna”\>“I’mana”\>“I’mna”\>“I’mma”. To be fair, these sound changes are happening in speech, not writing, but I suspect maybe a decade or two ago people were writing it as I’mna and writing or typing casually turned that N into a second M. ---
**Author:** ![sjankis630](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@sjankis630](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjankis630)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/34 "2019-10-30T03:29:26Z")
Hmmm, I guess I thought the “fiddin’ ta” that I heard in southern Virginia was a lot when I moved from San Francisco back in 1973. I think they are actually saying “fixing to .” Like they are fixing to leave soon. I can’t say anything though, as my pronunciation has fallen of late. I cannot count the times I catch myself saying that I am going to get something out of the “frigerator.” ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2019, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/35 "2019-10-30T03:33:24Z")
I’m white, and if I were to literally transcribe the way I’ve always pronounced “trying to”, I’d come up with “tryn’ta”. Seems to me that “tryna” isn’t that much of a linguistic shift. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2019, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/36 "2019-10-31T22:19:17Z")
I’ve been pretty active on Twitter for about a year. I’ll tell you, it took me months to figure out the slang there. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2019, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/37 "2019-11-01T12:32:09Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > … if I’m gonna say or write gonna, I’m doing it to appear more casual. … Gonna (or gunna) is one I’ve been hearing more and more often lately. The other day I was somewhat surprised to see it in a novel (written in 2013). ---
**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:** [November 1, 2019, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/38 "2019-11-01T14:04:02Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Gonna (or gunna) is one I’ve been hearing more and more often lately. The other day I was somewhat surprised to see it in a novel (written in 2013). Really? “Gonna” is nothing new at all. Don’t you remember the movie “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” or “We’re Not Gonna Take It?” I’ve been using it all my life. I mean, on this board I find it being used [from almost the very beginning](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=28348) (That’s from 2000, but I didn’t feel like going past the first page in Google to find a 1999 cite.) Or am I misunderstanding your point? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2019, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/39 "2019-11-01T18:13:41Z")
I guess you’re right. I think I previously thought it - um - lazy/casual/slovenly speech, whereas it seems to be becoming more and more prevalent. Of course, it might just be because it seems to be one of my wife’s vocal patterns. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2019, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623/40 "2019-11-01T18:29:55Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Gonna (or gunna) is one I’ve been hearing more and more often lately. The other day I was somewhat surprised to see it in a novel (written in 2013). [First recorded use in print: 1806](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gonna) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trying-to-is-now-tryna/842623.md?page=3)