Why is “to be” disappearing?

[Sportsnight]

As in:

“That cupboard needs cleared” or “the kids need picked up”

I’ve seen it on threads before, but I’m hearing it more and more in conversation.

Why? To me it makes less sense, but as it’s quite widespread is there a reason behind it?

I've noticed another word disappearing from UK usage too.

Off. As in pissed off.

No, you are not drunk, you are annoyed. So am I.

I think the "let's go Tesco" example (which I do hear from kids in London) is different to the "the cupboards need cleaned" one, isn't it?

Agreed.

I have also never heard anyone say ‘need go asda’, that would be very odd.

It’s regional.
‘Needs gone, needs done’ etc are a regional thing.

My parents were Geordies and would say “ want” instead of “need”. For example “That coat wants mending” or “that window wants cleaned”.
I was raised in the south, and it sounded odd to me, as if the window was sentient and expressing an opinion, wishing to be cleaned!

Babdoc - that's 'wants' in the sense of 'lacking' rather than 'wishes for'.

“That coat wants mending” is perfectly fine, but "that window wants cleaned” isn't.

In other news though, I have found the missing 'of'. It keeps appearing in peoples sentences with the word off.

I fell off of the roof. No, you didn't, you plonker, you fell OFF the roof. Nob.

I think MeltedCrayons that extra 'of' has been stolen from eg 'going out of the house /window/door' etc. Increasingly obsolete it seems.

Both are annoying. But someone will be along soon to tell us that language is evolving

Language is evolving. Obviously. Anyway, I would certainly say I fell off if a roof, though hopefully i won't have to.

Hopefully the OP has noticed more of a random mutation than evolution ... otherwise it's going to make a heck of a mess of Hamlet's soliloquy.

I never hear it where I am (London).

However, years ago (early 90s) I had a boyfriend from a different part of the UK who was perplexed by the fact that me and my friends said ‘I’m just gonna go shop’ or ‘do you wanna come pub?’ without ‘to the’.

It's not American.

Actually, it's a regional thing in the US, just as in the UK. It's not in my southern British dialect, but it's perfectly valid for some English speakers.

languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3422

people round here say they are "going Brighton", missing out the "to". But to be honest, it's always the thick ones.

Oooh! Did I just say that?

Used all the time here in Scotland and has been for years.

I'm American and I've only seen it on MN. The link above isn't really clear -- analysis suggests the map shows false positives.

i have never heard this, and it sounds wrong and awkward to me.
something I have noticed in the last couple of years though is with, or rather without, getting rid of something.
as in, the car is costing us too much, we will have to get rid.
or, I never liked these curtains, I'm going to get rid.
I'm waiting to hear, of it, on the end. but they don't say it. it is as if the sentence has been truncated unnaturally. ran out of ink, or type-setters' letters, or money for the words on a telegram. but in speech.
has anyone else noticed this.
now I am quite an oldie on here, but what surprised me was I first noticed someone even older than me speaking like this.
I assumed it was some kind of affectation, maybe trying to reference Yiddish forms. but when I asked someone else, also older, she said it was quite normal standard English. doesn't sound like it to me, and how come I never heard it before about 3 yrs ago.