# To be, or just too freaking lazy **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 24, 2011, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-be-or-just-too-freaking-lazy/568737 "2011-01-24T03:41:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-be-or-just-too-freaking-lazy/568737/1 "2011-01-24T03:41:44Z")
While not your typical Grammar Nazi, I find the following to be irritating. I will get notes from staff saying that something or other “needs finished” or “needs done” (instead of “needs to be finished/needs to be done”). I just sent back a proposed procedure manual revision featuring glaring examples of this, with corrections. Mrs. J. thinks it’s a Pittsburghism that has crept west into Ohio. It needs stop. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-be-or-just-too-freaking-lazy/568737/2 "2011-01-24T03:44:50Z")
Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-be-or-just-too-freaking-lazy/568737/3 "2011-01-24T04:07:04Z")
You mean “needs stopped.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Pearson\_Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pearson_flyer/32/7241_2.png) [@Pearson\_Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pearson_Flyer)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-be-or-just-too-freaking-lazy/568737/4 "2011-01-24T04:07:28Z")
Wouldn’t that be “It needs stopped”? And agreed. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-be-or-just-too-freaking-lazy/568737/5 "2011-01-24T04:48:07Z")
Would you be happier with ‘needs finishing’? I agree that ‘needs finished’, ‘needs washed’, etc, needs eradicated. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-be-or-just-too-freaking-lazy/568737/6 "2011-01-24T04:54:01Z")
I’ve only ever heard of this usage right here on the Dope. Seems it hasn’t slimed into corporate Australia yet, thank Og. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-be-or-just-too-freaking-lazy/568737/7 "2011-01-24T04:59:19Z")
I’d never heard it until I started dating an Ohioan. It was…really odd at first. And it took me a little while to get the usage correct. But now, I find it kind of endearing, and I occasionally do it myself. I classify it as “mostly harmless.” ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-be-or-just-too-freaking-lazy/568737/8 "2011-01-24T05:16:47Z")
> [@Ace309](#): > > You mean “needs stopped.” 😉 You’re on the list. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-be-or-just-too-freaking-lazy/568737/9 "2011-01-24T12:03:45Z")
It think it may be a Pennsylvania regionalism. It isn’t uncommon where I am and I confess that I have been guilty of using the idiom a time or two. (I remember a young man from Canada making fun of me in the mid 90s for it when I was consulting.) ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-be-or-just-too-freaking-lazy/568737/10 "2011-01-24T12:46:31Z")
It is very common in rural Illinois, and it makes me want to cover my ears and scream. ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-be-or-just-too-freaking-lazy/568737/11 "2011-01-24T12:56:10Z")
It is a part of Pittsburghese. As long as the meaning is clear, I couldn’t care less. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-be-or-just-too-freaking-lazy/568737/12 "2011-01-24T13:38:39Z")
Previous thread on topic [Idioms like "Your dog needs trained". Who, what, where, etc.? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=536336) (needs read) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-be-or-just-too-freaking-lazy/568737/13 "2011-01-24T13:46:01Z")
You never can tell what needs searched. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-be-or-just-too-freaking-lazy/568737/14 "2011-01-24T14:24:56Z")
> [@MegaBee](#): > > It is a part of Pittsburghese. As long as the meaning is clear, I couldn’t care less. You no care none if sentinces like this be coming up in technical procedure manuals 'cuz you know what I mean ? ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-be-or-just-too-freaking-lazy/568737/15 "2011-01-24T16:03:56Z")
Eww that’s awful. Especially written. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-be-or-just-too-freaking-lazy/568737/16 "2011-01-24T16:14:42Z")
Clearly we need a stronger barrier between OH and PA, to keep these Pittsburghisms from infecting our language. (The existing barrier needs strengthened.) ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-be-or-just-too-freaking-lazy/568737/17 "2011-01-24T16:49:02Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > … > > It needs stop. No, it “needs stopped” :rolleyes: :p. It actually made its way east to Harrisburg, too; I grew up using that phrasing as well. Of course, I grew up thinking the third letter of our nation’s capital was ‘R’, also. I got over both of these “rate away” once I hit high school.