My watch wants repairing.

[Greg Pyszczek]

I came across "this watch wants repairing" / "this watch wants to be repaired" in our teaching material.

I thought it was a mistake, so I brought it up, but I was told it's straight from a grammar book. I'm still skeptical as this is a Japanese book on English grammar. I tried searching the web for more examples in case it's an old idiom by chance but no luck. Inanimate objects can't want things, outside of poetry at least. Right? These are Japanese students in the 10th grade that are just learning simple English grammar.

 

[tzfujimino]

Do you find these sentences unnatural?

The windows wanted cleaning.
Her hair wants cutting.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/want

 

[probus]

To me it seems old-fashioned but it is certainly not incorrect.

 

[jutfrank]

I'm surprised a native speaker wouldn't instantly recognise this usage, to be honest. Perhaps it's not a particularly common feature of Australian English.

In British English at least, it is common, and not particularly old-fashioned. However, it isn't something that you should be teaching to 10th grade low-level Japanese kids.

 

[Greg Pyszczek]

Do you find these sentences unnatural?

The windows wanted cleaning.
Her hair wants cutting.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/want

Very, haha. I checked the dictionary entry you linked me, it does state "mainly British, informal". While Australia does follow UK English spelling, a lot of stuff like this doesn't make it over there. For me and most Australians probably, we stick to the other entries in that "want" is expressed by living things but not objects. Do you use other words in this way too? Such as "the windows demanded cleaning"

 

[Greg Pyszczek]

I'm surprised a native speaker wouldn't instantly recognise this usage, to be honest. Perhaps it's not a particularly common feature of Australian English.

In British English at least, it is common, and not particularly old-fashioned. However, it isn't something that you should be teaching to 10th grade low-level Japanese kids.

It does seem to be a British English thing according to Collins dictionary, one of the other replies linked to it. Doubly so we shouldn't be teaching it to kids in Japan, they're supposed to be learning American English which is already a great pain for me without having UK grammar bits snuck in... Now I know though, if I'm stumped I'll consult Collins first.

 

[5jj]

I'm surprised a native speaker wouldn't instantly recognise this usage, to be honest.

I am not surprised that a native speaker would not instantly accept "this watch wants to be repaired".

 

[jutfrank]

I am not surprised that a native speaker would not instantly accept "this watch wants to be repaired".

Right. We wouldn't really use the to-infinitive. The pattern is want/need + -ing:

This watch wants repairing.
Your hair wants cutting.
The walls need painting.

 

[Tdol]

This has come up before and some American speakers marked it down as an error and were surprised to see Brits say it was standard. It is not a universally accepted form, but it's fine and natural in BrE.

 

[Tarheel]

I understand the intent. However, my hair has never wanted to be cut. It has no wants or desires or wishes or needs. I might decide I need a haircut, but I don't consult my hair about that.

 

[emsr2d2]

I wonder if it started off as, or comes from, "in want of", meaning "lacking or in need of".

Your hair is in want of cutting > Your hair needs to be cut > Your hair wants cutting
My bathroom is in want of cleaning > My bathroom needs to be cleaned > My bathroom wants cleaning

 

[jutfrank]

I wonder if it started off as, or comes from, "in want of", meaning "lacking or in need of".

I wondered the same. It appears that the verb want originally meant 'to be lacking' and that the normal meaning of 'desire' is a very recent development. From etmyonline.com:

want (v.)​

c. 1200, "to be lacking," from Old Norse vanta "to lack, want," earlier *wanaton, from Proto-Germanic *wanen, from PIE *weno-, suffixed form of root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out." The meaning "desire, wish for, feel the need of" is recorded by 1706.

want (n.)​

c. 1200, "deficiency, insufficiency, shortage," from want (v.) and from Old Norse vant, neuter of vanr "wanting, deficient;" related to Old English wanian "to diminish" (see wane). Meaning "state of destitution, poverty" is recorded from early 14c. Meaning "thing desired, that which is lacking but needed" is from 1560s. Phrase for want of is recorded from c. 1400. Newspaper want ad is recorded from 1897. Middle English had wantsum (c. 1200) "in want, deprived of," literally "want-some."

I don't think there's anything remotely unusual about talking as if watches and hair have conscious minds. We bestow intentionality into mindless objects all the time. Think how you might say that your computer doesn't 'like it' when you perform a certain operation, for instance.

For me and most Australians probably, we stick to the other entries in that "want" is expressed by living things but not objects. Do you use other words in this way too? Such as "the windows demanded cleaning"

Not with windows but with situations generally, yes, absolutely. This is true for all varieties of English. Take this example:

The present situation demands immediate action.