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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

It needs done

131 replies

EllaAtLarge · 05/08/2026 14:34

I am sure in the past we used to say “it needs to be done.” Or “it needs doing”.

Why do people now say “it needs done”?

I hate it.

Aibu?

OP posts:
LondonLass2026 · 05/08/2026 15:51

They say that up here in the north east.

It's annoying.

Teenytini · 05/08/2026 16:01

EllaAtLarge · 05/08/2026 15:12

I’m not the best person to ask. For twenty years, I really couldn’t cope with people saying “squeezed”. I genuinely thought - and instinctively felt certain - the word was “squozen.”

As in: freeze, frozen.

therefore

squeeze, squozen

And I assumed this was a hangover from my mum’s Yorkshire dialect but apparently not!

That’s made me laugh so loudly, the whole bus is looking at me!

icingonmycupcake · 05/08/2026 16:01

EllaAtLarge · 05/08/2026 15:09

Does it sound weird to you when an English person says it?

Like if I tried to say, “yo dude wassup how’s it hangin’’” it would fall flat in my Radio 4 southern accent.

Show quote history

I've lived in Scotland for over 50yrs and never heard 'it needs done'. 🤔

Linenspots · 05/08/2026 16:07

Yep, hear it a lot here too (East Mids).

I've also been seeing pictures posted on social media by hairdressers, showing their clients' new hairstyles with "Beryl/Sarah/Polly had her hair did today" as the tagline. The first time I saw this, I assumed it was a terrible mistake, but I've noticed a few posts featuring the same abomination. Whaat!

Mumwithbaggage · 05/08/2026 16:09

I'm going for a toilet is the strangest one I've heard around here.

AllMyExesWearRolexes · 05/08/2026 16:10

EllaAtLarge · 05/08/2026 15:09

Does it sound weird to you when an English person says it?

Like if I tried to say, “yo dude wassup how’s it hangin’’” it would fall flat in my Radio 4 southern accent.

Show quote history

It doesn't jar on me because I know the Scots derivation and that it's not a mistake.
My mum's mum was Scots so I grew up (in Cornwall) hearing a lot of Scots phrases and Cornish dialect and accepting them as part of everyday conversation.
When I went to university in London English people found my vocabulary most exotic!

Boreded · 05/08/2026 16:12

Not in my (close to Yorkshire) part of the north

UhOhRatPoo · 05/08/2026 16:12

icingonmycupcake · 05/08/2026 16:01

I've lived in Scotland for over 50yrs and never heard 'it needs done'. 🤔

Show quote history

Have you heard :

It needs washed
It needs cut
it needs hoovered
It needs fixed
It needs finished

All of these are completely natural to me as a Scot and I can’t emphasise enough how foreign it would feel to me to say “the grass needs cutting” or “the shelf needs fixing”

I am generally well spoken and use correct grammar (my Dad was a radio newsreader). I never say “I seen her in town” or “I done the test”. But using the past participle wth the verb “need” does not feel incorrect to me. Surely it’s just a contraction of “it needs TO BE washed” etc and describes the end state of the action- (a washed car, cut grass etc) Why would a present participle such as “washing” be more grammatically correct?

BasketCaseBug · 05/08/2026 16:13

I only see it on mumsnet and find it irrationally irritating. I don't know why it bothers me so much, it just does.

UhOhRatPoo · 05/08/2026 16:13

BasketCaseBug · 05/08/2026 16:13

I only see it on mumsnet and find it irrationally irritating. I don't know why it bothers me so much, it just does.

Never go to Scotland then. You will lose the plot.

Mousespoons · 05/08/2026 16:17

My colleague says it, broad West Country accent

Renamedyetagain · 05/08/2026 16:17

UhOhRatPoo · 05/08/2026 16:12

Have you heard :

It needs washed
It needs cut
it needs hoovered
It needs fixed
It needs finished

All of these are completely natural to me as a Scot and I can’t emphasise enough how foreign it would feel to me to say “the grass needs cutting” or “the shelf needs fixing”

I am generally well spoken and use correct grammar (my Dad was a radio newsreader). I never say “I seen her in town” or “I done the test”. But using the past participle wth the verb “need” does not feel incorrect to me. Surely it’s just a contraction of “it needs TO BE washed” etc and describes the end state of the action- (a washed car, cut grass etc) Why would a present participle such as “washing” be more grammatically correct?

Edited
Show quote history

Mid 40s, Scottish and had zero idea this wasn't the way it was said all over e.g. the dishwasher needs emptied or the bed needs changed.

Have people been judging me all these years?!

Yetanothername3 · 05/08/2026 16:17

I have heard this many times from a Scottish chap, who had been living in London for a long time.
Another colleague used to omit the n from an + vowel sound, so a egg. Irritating.
A further colleague used to say we was, which is just wrong.
Plus the number of times I have seen or heard he's came, they've went etc.

Scorchio84 · 05/08/2026 16:18

PolkaDotPorridge · 05/08/2026 14:57

I see similar on social media. It needs gon, in relation to selling/giving an item away. Or the dog needs walked. It’s very irritating.

Oh that's horrendous, I also find "I was sat" a bit grating too

Undethetree · 05/08/2026 16:18

I see it on here all the time, I hate it too!

Piccly · 05/08/2026 16:19

Isn't that another of those regional things that dome people will swear blind is never ever said and which is normal everyday language for others?

QuickPlumLeader · 05/08/2026 16:20

Another Scot coming to say “it needs done” or “it’s needing done” is very normal here. I probably say needing more tbh.

UhOhRatPoo · 05/08/2026 16:22

Renamedyetagain · 05/08/2026 16:17

Mid 40s, Scottish and had zero idea this wasn't the way it was said all over e.g. the dishwasher needs emptied or the bed needs changed.

Have people been judging me all these years?!

Show quote history

I moved to England when I was 18. It wasn’t until I was 26 that someone pointed out to me that this turn of phrase was not used by English people.

On the upside that was 8 years of people being polite rather than claiming to be irritated, annoyed or disgusted by my “bad grammar”. 5 minutes on Mumsnet, on the other hand…

PenelopePinkerton · 05/08/2026 16:22

I’ve never heard it either.

UhOhRatPoo · 05/08/2026 16:24

Yetanothername3 · 05/08/2026 16:17

I have heard this many times from a Scottish chap, who had been living in London for a long time.
Another colleague used to omit the n from an + vowel sound, so a egg. Irritating.
A further colleague used to say we was, which is just wrong.
Plus the number of times I have seen or heard he's came, they've went etc.

“He’s came” and “they’ve went” are examples of a pattern of incorrect grammar that is quite prevalent in Scotland. I do not include “the dishwasher needs emptied” in that category.

suki1964 · 05/08/2026 16:25

Used here where I live - Ulster Scots

Needs Gone
Needs done
I knowed that
Just a few of the phrases I hear daily - and have annoyingly picked up myself

When I first moved here, I had to make a conscience effort not to correct people on their grammar - and Im no expert

TherapistInATabard · 05/08/2026 16:26

My husband is from Northern Ireland and says this

Lifeomars · 05/08/2026 16:26

Never heard it before

cabus · 05/08/2026 16:33

I used to watch Homes Under The Hammer a lot. The Scottish presenter on there said it about most of the houses she went in and she wasn't wrong.

WhatWouldGinDo · 05/08/2026 16:35

Its a northern thing. Heard it when I went from living in the deep rural south (of England!) to a northern uni, and it drove me bonkers. My otherwise lovely, highly educated lawyer flatmate from Kendal would say "it needs washed" or "I needs bought" and would give me the rage.

Still does, although i sometimes find myself saying it.