Central Pennsylvanian English speakers: what are the limitations on the "needs washed" construction?

In the Central Pennsylvania dialect of English (and possibly elsewhere), the following construction is possible:

• This car needs washed. (=needs to be washed)
• The room needs cleaned. (=needs to be cleaned)

It appears that, if a verb like needs is followed by a passive construction in the infinitive, the "to be" portion is left out.

This construction sounds so unnatural to my ear that I have no intuition as to the extent to which it can be extended to other words and contexts. If anyone here is a native speaker of this dialect of English, perhaps they can help to explain the limits on its use.

My basic question is: how productive is this particular construction among those who use it?

To be more specific, can this construction be used with any verb (if that verb can be immediately followed by a passive construction, of course)? That is, would (any of) the following be acceptable, for example?

• At this restaurant, we always wait seated. (=wait to be seated)
• My kid hates picked last in sports. (=hates to be picked)
• We all want loved. (=want to be loved)

If this construction is restricted, then which verbs can be used, aside from need?

Edit: What I am really hoping for here is that there is someone who happens across this question that can say, "I actively use this construction, and here's what I can and can't say."

Solution 1:

I've heard the "needs washed" construction so many times that it sounds completely normal to me.

Your other three examples, however, don't sound familiar.

I'm having a tough time thinking of a set rule for dropping "to be." I think it could work with want in addition to need, e.g. "The baby wants changed." But I can't think of other verbs that it would work with.

Edit: I actively use this construction. I was just telling my roommate the other day that "That lightbulb needs changed," and he understood me because he grew up in south central Pennsylvania, too.

I know it works with need, and I'm pretty sure it can work with want, too. (E.g., The dog wants fed.)

I'm heading back to my hometown this weekend, so I'll try to remember to ask people while I'm there. But it's kind of hard to talk about this sort of thing with people who've spoken that way their whole life and don't even know that other people talk differently. A lot of folks I know from there don't understand that most people would find the following very grating: "We're going to the mall. Do you want to come with?"

Update: I polled a few friends while I was back in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. They confirmed the construction with needs and wants, but they couldn't think of any other verbs it could work with.

Solution 2:

I didn't realize I used this construction until I moved to Minnesota and a wordie laughed when I said "My house needs cleaned." It could only come from my Dad, who is from southern OH, by way of Pennsylvanian immigrants from Ireland, who in turn are of Scottish ancestry.

I realize I would only use it for needs/wants. A couple of quirks about my usage I thought I'd share: I use needs more often than wants; I use it more often with the singular verb (needs) than the plural verb (need), and I use it more often when talking about an inanimate object, such as "floor", or at least an objectified person, such as "baby". But that being said, the phrases "He needs punched." and "She needs let in." do sound correct to me as well.

Sounds okay: The dress needs taken in.

Does not sound okay: He needs trained. (I would say He needs training, or He needs to be trained.)

The difference might be that the verb applied to the construction is less likely to be a permanent condition. When someone is trained, they are trained forever. Babies that are changed, floors that are washed, being punched, being let into a house, these are transient things. Does anyone else who uses this notice this pattern?

Btw, totally agree with rhetorician. If I say "The grass needs cut." then it's PAST TIME to have done it. It's more like an admonition, instead of a to-do list. The only caveat to that is that I could see saying to a house sitter, "The dog will need let out," or "The grass will need cut," which needs have not happened yet. shrugs