needs washed

[Dennis R. Preston]

>   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.

_American Speech_ Spring 2002 (Vol 77 Number 1) pages 32ff has an article by
Thomas Murray and Beth Lee Simon on similar expressions, including maps of
where they appear or don't appear.  6 pages of bibliography, too.

       - James A. Landau

And Erica Benson (Michigan State Univ.) presented a paper at this
year's ADS meeting on the origins, spread, and status of the
apparently related need and want plus particle and prepositional
phrase constructions (e.g., Bill wants in; The dog wants in the
house, George needs out, The cat needs in the house). Her work shows
a decided Midwestern preference for these constructions as well (with
some surprising acceptance of them, however, in non-Midwest areas
where people would rather have hangnails than use the needs/wants +
participle construction).

dInIs

--
Dennis R. Preston
Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics & Germanic, Slavic,
      Asian & African Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027
e-mail: preston at msu.edu
phone: (517) 353-9290