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Pedants' corner
Original poster

I've got bills that need paid"

30 replies

Greensleeves · 07/04/2008 13:27

or

"My childminder is going on holiday, will she want paid for that week?"

Which regional dialect does this come from? I'm not being nasty, I just haven't come across it IRL and there are no accents on here so I don't know where it's from.

OP posts:
TooTicky · 07/04/2008 13:28

Not SW afaik, I've never heard it.

Iklboo · 07/04/2008 13:29

I've heard scottish people sayig "I've a watch that needs repaired". I wondered if it was dialect

Swedes · 07/04/2008 13:40

My friend in the Highlands used to say I'll be off because the bairns are needing fed. She used to laugh at the way I said grass and glass. [laugh-up-my-sleeve-emoticon]

AMumInScotland · 07/04/2008 13:41

Definitely Scottish dialect. I didn't even realise till my English BIL corrected commented on phrases like "this needs ironed"

throckenholt · 07/04/2008 13:44

certainly Scots - Glasgow area probably.

Beachcomber · 07/04/2008 13:56

I say stuff like that and I'm from Scotland. Must be a regional thing. Is it incorrect gramatically?

MrsBadger · 07/04/2008 13:58

grammatically it should be 'I've got bills that need to be paid' or 'I've got bills that need paying.'

Tutter · 07/04/2008 14:00

er, shouldn't it be "i have bills that need to be paid"

the passive is acceptable surely?

but i have the overuse of "got"

Tutter · 07/04/2008 14:00

have hate

MrsBadger · 07/04/2008 14:01

you are right of course Tutter

I was rephrasing the sentence in the OP wrt to the 'paid' rather than the whole shebang

Beachcomber · 07/04/2008 14:30

Ok that's what I thought. I use those too but the Scottish way feels more comfortable for me.

I know quite a lot of people who use a mixture of the past simple and present perfect as in 'have you went to the shops yet?'. This is a Glasweigan thing (only done in spoken language obviously) and is quite charming when combined with the local accent. Sounds horrid said without accent though. Somehow it doesn't sound incorrect but dialecty IYKWIM.

I love regional variations/accents.

doggiesayswoof · 07/04/2008 14:38

I'm Glaswegian. Beach I totally disagree with the "I have went" thing sounding dialecty but not actually wrong. I hate hate hate it. "Has the bell went" - haunted my schooldays

Also "I seen"/"I done" argh

As far as OP is concerned, I spent years thinking that "that needs paying" was terribly English (as opposed to Scottish) and gramatically incorrect - it still sounds wrong to me...

doggiesayswoof · 07/04/2008 14:41

Oh this is niggling me. why is "I've got bills that need paid" wrong?

I always think of it as elision - ie "to be" before paid is understood.

Beachcomber · 07/04/2008 14:45

Perhaps it is because I'm from snobby Edinburgh and I like it as a sort of refreshing change from Morningsideness!

Agree with you that I seen/done is awful.

Beachcomber · 07/04/2008 14:48

When I was younger, I thought 'that need paying' was wrong. Find it difficult to say now as I have to remind myself it isn't incorrect just not familiar.

midnightexpress · 07/04/2008 14:48

It's wrong because 'need' should be followed by a gerund or 'to be + past participle' when its meaning is passive, not by a past participle on its own.

The past participle is Scottish, as the others say. And it's fine, but it's not standard English .

The one I really love up here is 'amn't I?', which is far more logical than 'aren't I?'. I think we should adopt that one.

Beachcomber · 07/04/2008 14:53

Gosh midnight. Does that mean that 'bills that need to be paid' is ok but 'bills that need paying' is not?

[confused Scot emoticon]

midnightexpress · 07/04/2008 14:54

No, 'bills that need paid' is 'wrong', the other two are 'correct' usage.

If you subscribe to that sort of thing.

Beachcomber · 07/04/2008 15:11

Got it, thanks.

skyatnight · 07/04/2008 16:44

midnightexpress - my father who was Scottish always said 'amn't I?'. I love it too. It is grammatically more logical, it's just a bit more of a mouthful hence the popularity of 'aren't I?'

I love the Scottish and Northern Irish 'necessArily' instead of 'necessErily'. Same goes for all other words ending in 'arily'.

I always found it strange though that the Scots say 'ap-pear-ently' (think Victor Meldrew actor) instead of 'app-a-rently' - that doesn't follow logic, does it?

Ho-hum.

BarcodeZebra · 07/04/2008 23:00

After 15 years of living in Edinburgh I'm afraid I've semi adopted all of these. I like "needs paid" and "Amn't I". But the one that I still can't get my head around after all this time is those folk up here who just don't use the word "those". I mean why would you when "these' serves for both (as in "these new houses down the road")?

Oh and the Edinburgh accent that put the interrogative "eh?" on the end of every sentence, eh?

Twinklemegan · 07/04/2008 23:06

Yes, Scottish. I can't comment on the central belt but I certainly hear it up here in the Highlands. I really like the Scottish turns of phrase, now that I'm getting used to them. Like "do you think the snow will be away?"

midnightexpress · 08/04/2008 08:29

Barcode, and how about the way that 'how' is used instead of 'why'? Most peculiar.

Beachcomber · 08/04/2008 09:06

My English relatives seem to think it is very amusing when I say things like 'I'm away' to say 'I'm going'.

trixymalixy · 08/04/2008 13:05

It's definitely Scottish.

I always think it sounds extremely English to say "it needs ironing" rather than "it needs ironed".

I agree with doggie says woof, the "to be" is understood.