One of my greatest pet peeves is people leaving out the “to be” verb when they speak.  They may say, “It needs washed,” or “The dog needs walked.”  It looks and sounds so wrong, but I hear it often in Oklahoma.  I wonder if this is a regional tendency, or whether people in other parts of the country drop the poor “to be” as well.  Is it more economical to leave out those two words?  The meaning and intent are still conveyed, but these are very short words that don’t take long to say. 

People, please don’t sacrifice the “to be” in order to say what you want to say just a little bit faster!