# It's "needs washed"!!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 25, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575 "2009-08-25T00:16:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575/41 "2009-08-25T05:23:34Z")
Is English your first language? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575/42 "2009-08-25T05:46:50Z")
> [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](#): > > It’s needs warshed. Dammit, you scooped me!!! Yinz gonna watch the Stillers game an’at? ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575/43 "2009-08-25T06:26:26Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Dammit, you scooped me!!! > > Yinz gonna watch the Stillers game an’at? U needed scooped. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575/44 "2009-08-25T07:00:56Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > I’m tired of using a perfectly sensible dialect that I’ve used my entire life and being corrected on it. Currently, I live in D.C., but I’m originally from Pittsburgh. “Needs Xed” or “wants Xed” sounds correct to me and “Xing” sounds idiotic. And “to be” is as optional as _that_ in the sentence “I spent the money _that_ I earned.” Just because you come from a place full of crippling idiocy doesn’t mean others have to let it slip. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575/45 "2009-08-25T07:50:22Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Currently, I live in D.C., but I’m originally from Pittsburgh. “Needs Xed” or “wants Xed” sounds correct to me and “Xing” sounds idiotic. I’m originally from DC but live in Ireland. “Needs Xed” is very common here. It took me years to get used to. _shrug_ Different dialects make life interesting. ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575/46 "2009-08-25T10:13:24Z")
My Scottish boyfriend will say “needs Xed”, whereas I will say “needs to be Xed”. Must be a cultural thing, just like the way he says “that’s mines” and I say “that’s mine”. ---
**Author:** ![Batfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Batfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batfish)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575/47 "2009-08-25T11:20:51Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > “The car needs washed.” Yes, but does it want (to be) washed? Must it (be) washed? Can it (be) washed? Perhaps it needs a wash. ---
**Author:** ![Borborygmi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/borborygmi/32/217_2.png) [@Borborygmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Borborygmi)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575/48 "2009-08-25T12:41:32Z")
Man, the OP is picking fights over something really minor. Sounds like he needs laid. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575/49 "2009-08-25T12:47:51Z")
I saw [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11467886&postcount=9) in another thread, and my first thought was, “Maybe Pittsburgh needs blowed up.” ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575/50 "2009-08-25T14:37:04Z")
Heh - I grew up outside Pittsburgh and I’ve always said “needs washed”. I remember some minor rant from an english teacher in middle school that included the word “gerund” but I’ve lost all details… and all desire to correct myself, too (if, indeed, it’s wrong - which it doesn’t seem to be to me.) She said something about comma splices and a tendency for run-on sentences, too. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575/51 "2009-08-25T15:01:03Z")
I’d like a cite that “needs washed” is incorrect from the langauge defining english authority. What no royal academy of english, it’s defined from common usage? Oh so a common dialect in Pittsburgh is wrong because? I look forward to finding out why Americans, English, Canadians, Aussies, etc. are completely wrong. Dude, it’ll be some roundabout right hell mate, eh. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575/52 "2009-08-25T15:03:55Z")
I’ve got a friend in Pennsylvania. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575/53 "2009-08-25T15:03:55Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > No, I think it’s “my hair needs did.” > > Seriously, has the OP never heard of Standard English? You can talk your dialect all you want, but it’s not Standard English. Forget about it, Jake: it be Chinatown. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575/54 "2009-08-25T16:05:38Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > I’m tired of using a perfectly sensible dialect that I’ve used my entire life and being corrected on it. Personally, I’ve always been slightly envious of the “needs ed” construction since I first learned about it in college, 'cause my dialect doesn’t have it and I think it sounds cool. Rest safe in the knowledge that anyone who “corrects” you is actually a retard who doesn’t understand anything about what English grammar really is. (Hint: “I apple ate an” is grammatically incorrect in any form of English. “I ain’t got she hat” is grammatically correct, depending on your dialect.) ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575/55 "2009-08-25T16:06:29Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > I’d like a cite that “needs washed” is incorrect from the langauge defining english authority. > > What no royal academy of english, it’s defined from common usage? Oh so a common dialect in Pittsburgh is wrong because? > > I look forward to finding out why Americans, English, Canadians, Aussies, etc. are completely wrong. > > Dude, it’ll be some roundabout right hell mate, eh. Let’s put it this way – a consensus of users of standard American considers it a dialectal variant on the usage standard which otherwise requires either the gerund (-ing form) or “to be” preceding the past participle in such cases. Just as it should be clear to anyone what a native Tarheel saying “I might could do that” means – “I am able to do that but undecided whether I will” – but it’s not considered to be proper standard American English usage, merely dialectal. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575/56 "2009-08-25T16:23:11Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Forget about it, Jake: it be Chinatown. Then it would be “needs washee.” ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575/57 "2009-08-25T16:37:54Z")
> [@ScareyFaerie](#): > > My Scottish boyfriend will say “needs Xed”, whereas I will say “needs to be Xed”. Must be a cultural thing, just like the way he says “that’s mines” and I say “that’s mine”. I’m sorry, but I can’t read that without substituting rudeness. “Honey, you needs xxxxed” “I needs to be xxxxed” ---
**Author:** ![Rack-a-Bones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rack-a-Bones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rack-a-Bones)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575/58 "2009-08-25T16:46:36Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > All right, for anyone still confused about my intent here: > > I’m tired of using a perfectly sensible dialect that I’ve used my entire life and being corrected on it. Currently, I live in D.C., but I’m originally from Pittsburgh. “Needs Xed” or “wants Xed” sounds correct to me and “Xing” sounds idiotic. And “to be” is as optional as _that_ in the sentence “I spent the money _that_ I earned.” > > My dialect is recognized. It’s standard where I come from. And as I hoped to argue (as much as one can argue over usage) that it makes sense. So I parodied those people that claim their usage is “right” and mine is “wrong”. So I wrote the equally valid claim that I am right and everyone else is wrong. Instead of putting it in GD where nothing productive could’ve come of it, or putting it in IMHO where I already knew the outcome, I put it in the Pit becaues it pisses me off to no end that I’m surrounded by grammar nazis that think I’m speaking this way out of ignorance. Half of them, if asked to name a part of speech, would guess “the tongue?” So there. > > I now return you to your regularly scheduled pointless, baseless assertions about language. Well I’m from the [del]Correct[/del] Left Coast, and well… you talk funny. So you posted a grammar rant to protest grammar ranting? Perhaps I’m daft, but I just don’t get it. > [@Borborygmi](#): > > Man, the OP is picking fights over something really minor. Sounds like he needs laid. Heee. I needed lol’d. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575/59 "2009-08-25T17:18:17Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Then it would be “needs washee.” I must be a bad person, because I laughed at that. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575/60 "2009-08-25T17:40:01Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Let’s put it this way – a consensus of users of standard American considers it a dialectal variant on the usage standard which otherwise requires either the gerund (-ing form) or “to be” preceding the past participle in such cases. Just as it should be clear to anyone what a native Tarheel saying “I might could do that” means – “I am able to do that but undecided whether I will” – but it’s not considered to be proper standard American English usage, merely dialectal. So it’s proper for the dialect, but not the country, is what your saying? If so wouldn’t correcting someone speaking the proper Pittsburgh dialect be about as rude as correcting an English man in the US because buggering doesn’t involve bugs at all\*? Edit: I guess the problem I have with this is people are harassing the OP because of his dialect and accent. \*one hopes anyway [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-needs-washed/507575.md?page=4)