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"Well, you knew Roxanne was fixing to get married," Gladiola begins. Sarah stares at her. "You mean Missy," she says [...] (The New York Times)
If I'm not wrong, in the sentence above I observe that "fixing to" works like the quasimodal "going to", speaking of future intentions.
Question are: Are "fixing to" and "going to" always interchangeable? If not, when can we replace one with each other?
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In East Alabama, where I came from in the middle of the last century, fixing to was not entirely synonymous with going to: it signified about to, on the verge of and would not be used of long-term plans or expectations. Thus:
She's going to be a pediatrician when she grows up, AND
She's fixing to be a pediatrician after she gets her degree,BUT NOT
✲She's fixing to be a doctor when she grows up.
And in fact the story you reference says that “the church was already reserved [...] and the minister all lined up, and the invitations sent.” Likewise, a little further on, the two-by-fours with which Sean busts up the car and Roxanne busts up Sean come from “a big pile of treated lumber that they got on sale from Wal-Mart” because “they were fixing to build a deck with” them and “Sean's brother was going to help them build the deck”. In both instances plans were pretty well advanced.
✲ marks an utterance as unacceptable
StoneyB on hiatus
Posted 2013-03-22T22:16:28.787
Reputation: 176 469
+1; exactly. "Fixing to" signifies that you are going to do something a relatively short period of time from now, and so does not have quite the same meaning as "going to". – WendiKidd – 2013-03-23T15:43:41.107
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This term reminds me of what you might find in a 50's or 60's film, especially if set in the US south or midwest.
To me it is folksy, and is similar to planning to or scheming to.
Also said by men, eg in song-title I feel like I'm fixin' to die by Country Joe And The Fish.
Here's why I voted down: fixing to is centuries old, but I don't think it's fallen out of favor in the last fifty years; I'm from the Midwest and I've never heard anyone say this phrase in person; and I think the part about women using this phrase more often because we're good at planning and scheming is somewhat bizarre. – snailplane – 2013-03-23T03:13:13.220
OK I was a bit off (and opinionated) on this one. I'll delete it unless there is some objection. – None – 2013-03-23T05:00:52.210
at least I'll edit out the opinion... – None – 2013-03-23T05:09:49.967
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Yes, in this context they are. They mean the same thing. Be fixing to do something to is informal and would be common in spoken day to day conversation.
Noah
Posted 2013-03-22T22:16:28.787
Reputation: 452
I understand it to mean "preparing to". I've used it before, but not often. I've used it informally when talking to friends to show my excitement about something: "I'm back in school! I'm fixing to finish in two years and get my degree!" It is a colloquialism, which English abounds in because it is spoken all over the world. – Nick – 2017-10-29T18:05:38.703
@snail, as a non-native speaker, shall I consider "fixing to" a colloquialism, a new tendency in the language, an American form, or what? Am I safe in using it or would people frown at me if I did? – None – 2013-03-22T22:42:37.567
2I wouldn't use it if I were you. It's definitely not "a new tendency", but it's not accepted as part of Standard English. The most I can really say is that it belongs to dialects I don't speak. I'm not sure exactly what it means, which is why I didn't describe it; my feeling is that it means going to, but dictionaries say preparing to. – snailplane – 2013-03-22T22:46:03.527
2@snailplane I don't use it, but those around me do. In my experience it means "a relatively short time from now, I am going to do [x]". It's interesting that dictionaries define it as "preparing to" though. That's not how I've heard it used, but it makes more sense as to the development of the phrase; "fixing to" could be extrapolated to "I am fixing things up in order to be ready to do [x]". Interesting!! – WendiKidd – 2013-03-23T15:42:05.120