To be or not to be?

[WinterAndRoughWeather]

In the last few years I’ve noticed a thing online where people are writing the word “needs” followed by a past participle, instead of the gerund or infinitive of “to be”.

For example:

This sentence needs checked

Instead of:

This sentence needs checking
Or
This sentence needs to be checked

What’s that all about? Do people use this form when speaking or is it just some new online language thing? I’ve never heard anyone use it, but I see it written more and more. Is it coming from the UK or the US?

Am I imagining the whole thing?

Ah I see what you mean. Had to read that twice.

I'd usually say this sentence needs reviewing so I'm going off on a tangent!

But yes I'd normally put this sentence needs to be reviewed. No idea of the history of it.

That was just an example, I see the “needs” + past participle all over the internet. There’s quite a bit of it on Mumsnet.

The sheets need washed
The door needs closed

That sort of thing. Where has it come from and why?

I've always assumed it was a regional variation, as I've only ever seen it on here.

I've seen it in a few places, but never heard it in real life. Is it a UK regional thing do you think? I just can't imagine anyone actually saying it, so I wondered if it's just a written phenomenon.

I am from London and have never heard it said, and have only seen the written form on here. As a teenager I had a boyfriend who originally came from Leeds (more than 30 years ago) and I think he used it in spoken language, which is why I thought it was a regional thing. But I can't be 100% sure...it was a long time ago!

Rossettis law of language states never ascribe to ignorance or stupidity what can be explained by spearchucking. ....

It's a Northern Irish thing, for sure - it was only when I moved to England that I heard the correct way! To this day I have to make a conscious effort to say "these clothes need washing" rather than "these clothes need washed"

Ah, interesting! Not wrong though - regional variation is a good thing!

OP, I know language is organic and changes and that needs + Past participle makes sense, so I shouldn't complain but it makes me cringe. I just want to correct it every time. It's recent and so widespread. No idea where it started. It's worse than 'should of'.

Is it recent though? I’ve only noticed it recently but pp say it’s a regional idiom. I wasn’t sure if it was a hangover from twitter or something like that - trying to save on character count. I just found it interesting because I’d never heard it used in speech, and normally the typos like “should of” are a result of writing sort of phonetically. Looks like I need to spend more time in NI!

To me it's just lazy English - much the same way as "I done a test" (in relation to taking a pregnancy test) - makes me cringe every time I read it

Not everyone is perfect with their English grammar. It does not seem to have the priority it once did.

I assumed it was a US thing because my US neighbour used this in a text to me. But maybe she got it from mumsnet...

Also "we went Asda instead" instead of "We went TO Asda" or "I need go Asda", again with out the to, "we need to go to Asda"

Regional. Happens in Scotland and in American regions that have strong Scottish or Irish ancestry. There was a study about it but I've no idea where the link is. I discussed it with others a couple of years ago, it's not so much "wrong" as there is no governing body for the English language. It's a regional variation. However, there are some generally accepted standards I suppose but we're straying into descriptivism vs prescriptivism and even language evolution there.

Completely irrationally, now I know it's a NI variation, I find it less irritating. Still looks weird written down but lots of things that used to now seem normal.

It's fairly standard in Scotland. You don't often hear "the sheets need washing" in Scotland. The standard way would be "the sheets need washed".

Well this is all very interesting - thanks all.

Yes, I associate that with Scottish English. Not lazy at all - just a different grammatical structure.