gonnabe
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From gonna (“contraction of going to”) + be, modelled after wannabe.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɡənəbi/, /ˈɡʌn-/, /ˈɡɒn-/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɡʌnəbi/, /ˈɡɔn-/, /ˈɡən-/
- Hyphenation: gon‧na‧be
Noun[edit]
gonnabe (plural gonnabes)
- (informal) One who is on the path to becoming famous or important.
- 2006, Linda Alice Dewey, “Acknowledgements”, in Aaron’s Crossing: An Inspiring True Ghost Story, Charlottesville, Va.: Hampton Roads Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 206:
- I attribute any success I have to the following educators in my life: New York agent Jim Cypher […] early on taught me that the difference between “wannabes” and “gonnabes” is persistence; […]
- 2007 August 6, Kelefa Sanneh, “Punk on parade, with flexible marching orders”, in The New York Times[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-11-26:
- Alkaline Trio, New Found Glory, Coheed and Cambria, the Starting Line: all have struggled to meet high expectations, and maybe some of them were relieved to be playing this summer’s Warped Tour, nestled among the wannabes and gonnabes.
- 2014, Tom Pease, “Touring Entrepreneurship Land and Meriting Citizenship: You Can’t Give What You Don’t Have”, in Small Business Survival 101: Principles for Fail Proofing Your Business, New York, N.Y.: Morgan James Publishing, →ISBN, page 22:
- It is doubtful you could instruct Babe Ruth into being a home run king or Usain Bolt into world’s fastest human. They just have something. You can throw money at a wannabe but that won’t make him a gonnabe.