that needs painted

[Laurence Horn]

There was an interesting, if ultimately unconvincing, paper by Dan
Brassil at the Baltimore LSA meeting in 2010 analyzing "needs washed"
as an Appalachian variety of the middle ("The bread cuts easily",
"Shakespeare doesn't translate well", "The cars are selling like
hotcakes"). Neal Whitman discussed the paper and the construction at
his Literal-Minded blog under the heading "Special Needs"; cf.
http://literalminded.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/special-needs/ (and the
responses).

LH

At 11:50 PM -0500 2/6/11, Herb Stahlke wrote:
>I haven't seen much on the "needs painting/painted" distinction, but
>does the -ing variant represent a modern relic of the -ing progressive
>passive used into the early 19th c., as in "My house is painting"?
>
>Herb
>
>On Sun, Feb 6, 2011 at 4:03 PM, Michael Sheehan <wordmall at aol.com> wrote:
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Michael Sheehan <wordmall at AOL.COM>
>>  Subject:      that needs painted
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>     The standard cadence would be "that needs painting" or "that needs
>>  to be painted,"
>>  but I've come across "a house that needs painted." Is this a feature of
>>  a particular
>>  region? Can someone shed light on the practice?
>>
>>  Michael J. Sheehan
>>
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>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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