Infinitival copula deletion

For those of you who are curious or want to do your own research, professor Barbara Johnstone, who studies Pittsburghese at Carnegie Mellon, calls the phenomenon “infinitival copula deletion.” “To be” is a copula, also known as a linking verb, in its infinitive form.

Blame the Scots-Irish

But let’s get to the fun part! Why do people talk like that? Where does it come from? As with many regional dialects, it has to do with migration patterns.

The “needs washed” construction is common in Scotland and Northern Ireland according to both linguists and a few Scottish and Irish respondents to my question, and when southwestern Pennsylvania was first settled by Europeans in the late 1600s and early 1700s, most of the settlers were Scots-Irish, a group of people with Scottish heritage who had settled for a few generations in the Ulster region of Northern Ireland. Not surprisingly, they brought their language—or what we might call quirks—with them.

As to why the Scots-Irish so long ago said their horses “need washed,” I haven’t been able to find a source that says why, and that’s unfortunately common when you’re investigating dialects. Eventually, you get to a point where all you can find is “the earlier people or the people who populated the region spoke that way.”

Other quirks of Pittsburghese

According to the Pittsburgh Speech and Society page at University of Pittsburgh, other phrases that are considered Pittsburghese that came from the Scots-Irish immigrants are “redd up” (to mean “clean up”), “diamond” (to mean “town square”), “slippy” (for “slippery”), and “yinz” as a plural for “you,” like “you guys” or “y’all.”

Also, using “anymore” in positive sentences, like people outside the region would use “nowadays,” is a feature of the North Midland region that may have come from the Scots-Irish. For example, to people in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and surrounding states, something like “Anymore there’s a Starbucks on every corner,” may sound completely normal. 

Standard in some parts of the North Midland region

I’ve heard of teachers using it. For example, in a 2007 Boston Globe article, Jan Freeman told a story about a family who moved to Pittsburgh and was shocked when their son’s teacher sent home a note saying “the kids’ homework needs reviewed by parents.” Two of my Facebook friends said they regularly hear “needs washed” kind of sentences in business settings, and Cheryl from Williams County, Ohio, said she heard the clerk of the court ask, “Does this need signed by the judge?” Even a copy editor friend who lives in central Illinois and considers herself picky when it comes to language said it sounds perfectly normal to her. I think it’s reasonable to say that, at least in certain communities in the North Midland region, the “needs washed” construction is standard. Nobody who grew up there notices it as odd or thinks it’s wrong.

Wrong everywhere else

Nevertheless, outside that region, almost everyone considers it wrong; and people who move to the North Midland region from other areas will likely think everyone else there is speaking “bad” English. The radio callers I hear from are often people who have moved to Ohio, for example.

The major usage guides I checked all agree that it’s not normal. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage calls it a “curious construction” and notes that The Longman Dictionary of English Language calls it “widely disliked,” and the Dictionary of American Regional English calls in an idiom. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English calls it dialect and nonstandard.