American "gonna"

Leasnam   Thu Dec 31, 2009 2:58 pm GMT
or I'm gonna go to sleep
Fact   Thu Dec 31, 2009 5:21 pm GMT
it's actually

"I'm a gonna"
Raiders Fan   Thu Dec 31, 2009 10:00 pm GMT
Any ESL students on here, don't listen to these morons.
Say "I'm going to," or at the worst, "I'm gonna."

There's no reason to sound any sloppier than you have to, especially when you're just starting out. You probably need all the help you can get, for people to understand you. So don't start right off trying to sound like a black person.
Nigga   Thu Dec 31, 2009 11:29 pm GMT
Bix nood
Uriel   Sat Jan 02, 2010 2:52 am GMT
I hate to break this to you all, but Americans did not invent "gonna". It's used throughout the English-speaking world.
uk   Sat Jan 02, 2010 6:56 pm GMT
Raiders Fan, shut your mouth..
Caspian   Sat Jan 02, 2010 7:46 pm GMT
<< I've never heard a native speaker say *"I gonna..."--at least not Americans. Maybe they do that in Britain. >>

And they don't here in Britain either. Basically, if you want to sound like a lower-class, uneducated moron (this applies for the UK only, apparently accents in America don't matter), then by all means go ahead and use this crude abbreviation.

If you want people to treat you like a normal person, then use 'I'm going to'.
strombosys   Sat Jan 02, 2010 9:20 pm GMT
I've heard plenty of very well educated Brits say "I'm gonna", so Caspian get off your high horse...
UK..   Sat Jan 02, 2010 11:47 pm GMT
Yeah your right strombosys, half of the grammar freaks on here think they are so perfect with there grammer and the like..!! maybe if your an high flyer like a solicitor then you need the perfect grammar but in everyday english for the non high flyers then its " I'm going to the pub " or I'm gonna go to the pub or even am going to the pub.. its all the same..lol.
Damian in Edinburgh   Sun Jan 03, 2010 12:58 am GMT
During the last months of WW2 in Britain, when at last it seemed that victory was in sight, a prominent British songwriter called Hubert Gregg composed a song, both the words and the music, to which he gave the title: "I'm going to get lit up when the lights go up in London".

The "lit up" part meant getting drunk in celebration of something, an English English expression for this, and of course the lights going up in London meant the ending of the total blackout regulations which prohibited the showing of all outdoor lighting of any kind during the hours of darkness in Britain during WW2, and all windows in all buidings had to be blacked out completely at nightfall.

Of course, once the song began to be sung by performers either on the BBC wireless broadcasting stations (wireless being the term used back then rather than radio) or by the singers at dances and balls or in shows, the "I'm going to" swiftly became "I'm gonna"...the whole rhythmic momentum of the song...the words along with the melody - just made it easier to say "I'm gonna" rather than "I'm going to".....even in the poshest part of super mega English English RP speaking parts of Southern England, including super-super posh upper class aristocratic areas of London such as Chelsea, South Kensington or Hampstead Garden Suburb and the like.

Hubert Gregg's words just naturally became:

"I'm gonna get lit up when the lights go up in London..... I'm gonna get lit up as I've never been before...... You will find me on the tiles (another expression meaning pissed)..... You will find me wreathed in smiles..... I'm going to get so lit up (the "gonna" is no use here as it doesn't scan properly so it's back to the drawing board with "going to"!)... I'll be visible for miles!"

Here is the written lyric of the entire song accompanied by the tune as composed by Gregg and as sung by all those singers way back in the Britain of almost 70 years ago:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ian.henden/litup.htm
Entbark   Sun Jan 03, 2010 1:28 am GMT
I'ma
I'm'ana
I'm gonna
I'm going to (when "going" is stressed)
I am going to (when "am" is stressed)

Wouldn't blink if I heard any of these in Wisconsin.
RAiders fan   Sun Jan 03, 2010 7:43 am GMT
Strombosis and UK, pull your brain out of your ass and read what he said. He didn't say there was anything wrong with saying "I'm gonna."

He's talking about "I gonna."

You idiots. Anyone who says "I gonna" sounds like an uneducated ape.
Uk   Sun Jan 03, 2010 12:18 pm GMT
RAiders fan, I did not say there was anything wrong with it..! its you that needs to take your brain out of your ass you goose..
Guest   Sun Jan 03, 2010 12:26 pm GMT
Caspian clearly stated that a "normal person" would say "I'm going to", so the one who needs to take his head of his ass is RAiders (sic) fan.
Steak 'n' Chips   Sun Jan 03, 2010 12:33 pm GMT
"I'm going to" is correct. But "I'm gonna" and "I gonna" are both used in loose speech in different communities.

It's irrelevant whether the speaker is black or educated. It's what they say that counts, not how they say it. You ignorant, high-handed snobs.