jibe/jive, needs washed

[Beverly Flanigan]

On the second question, the Midwest is a mighty big area.  Where in fact
have you heard "needs washed"?  It's all through mid- and southern Ohio,
Indiana, and Illinois and extends westward at least as far as
Colorado.  But it's not in Minnesota (also Midwest to me).  And regarding
the gerund:  I grew up with it in Minnesota, but Southerners tell me they
can't accept it.  So you have three variants, one or two of which may be
acceptable to anyone you ask, but probably not all three.  So who's to say
which or how many of these are "correct"?  Not me!

(There are lots of studies of these variants, if you're interested.  See
our journal, _American Speech_, for one source.)

At 05:17 PM 1/23/2003 -0600, you wrote:
>Perhaps this is because in my job we're constantly talking about making sure
>things agree with each other, but I've heard two different people say
>something similar to this in the last two days:
>
>jive for jibe (to be in accord, agree): "We've got to make sure the finished
>art jives with the art manuscript."
>
>Is this a common substitution that other people have heard?
>
>Also, does anyone know if the following is a usage specific to the Midwest,
>because this is the only place I've heard it used (or noticed, anyway): the
>dropping of "to be" after needs -- "my hair needs washed," "the clock needs
>restored," etc. I wouldn't have a problem if the gerund was used instead --
>"needs washing" or "needs restoring" -- but I like it best with the "to be
>washed" phrasing.
>
>Anne Rogers