Huh. Every now and then somebody will ask a question on AskMeFi about some regional linguistic quirk, and I realise that I have it. This person is confused and annoyed by Midwesterners who say things like, “This needs fixed” or “Those need washed.” (As opposed to “This needs to be fixed” or “Those need to be washed.”) I really had no idea this was such a strange construction. Those sound fine to my Indiana ears.
On the flipside though, there’s a comment in there about some Pennsylvanians who say things like, “I’m done my book.” THAT? IS SO WRONG.
3 responses
They all sound wrong to an Australian! However, I’m sure there’s a few things that I say that don’t make sense…
I had exactly the same problem when I lived in Scotland. I’d say “This needs washing” and they say “This needs washed”. Is there a strong Scottish background in your part of the USA?
“This needs fixed” sounds odd to my Wisconsin / Northern Illinois ears but “This needs fixing” sounds just fine. But then I’m also prone to putting an r in warsh so what do I know.