Steve B (re #14), wholeheartedly agree on the textspeak thing, even though one of our favorite people,
one of the most intelligent people we know, does it constantly.
Agreed, too, that the elision of the infinitive ("the floor needs swept") is grating, but it's actually
a pervasive regional dialect thing that runs in a geographical band from central Pennsylvania to eastern Ohio.
One needs get used to it...
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