Wiggle Room?

Beverly Flanigan flanigan at OHIO.EDU
Tue Nov 21 17:51:47 UTC 2006


We might want to alert newcomers to the list to check our Archives.  We've
discussed these phenomena, as well as vowel laxing, a thousand times
before, and all our exchanges are archived--right, Terry and Jesse?

At 12:33 AM 11/21/2006, you wrote:
>>That area of the country also inserts an 'r' sound in 'wash,' but also
>>makes a
>>verb construction 'needs + [pret]' where I might use 'needs + [inf].'
>>Example: I would say 'The car needs to be washed,' but there I heard 'The car
>>needs washed.'
>>
>>Anyone have an explanation of this use of verbs? A holdover from Germanic
>>constructions? (As in "Throw the horse over the fence some hay.")
>
>This Pittsburghism may be a Scotticism. At least the same thing occurs in
>Scots, as shown in SND under "need" (v., n.1, I.4) [e.g., from 1923, "This
>lock needs sortit."]
>
>Compare, e.g., "redd up" = "tidy up", "rift" = "belch", "slippy" =
>"slippery", "ignorant" = "ill-mannered", apparently Scotticisms and
>Pittsburghisms (not necessarily with absolute exclusivity).
>
>-- Doug Wilson
>
>
>--
>No virus found in this outgoing message.
>Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>Version: 7.1.409 / Virus Database: 268.14.10/541 - Release Date: 11/20/2006
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list