Re: English question

Nik Taylor wrote:

>Roger Mills wrote:
>> My interp:  he runs like an old man.  I've been accused of "dressing
old".
>> Hmmph. In Florida (Nik can confirm this) many people might "drive old"
>> (except they are in fact old-- the little people who drive their Lincoln
>> behemoths in the fast lane at 25mph, usually with the turn signal
blinking)
>
>Yes, people do that.  :-)  But, I don't think I've heard it called
>"driving old", usually "Driving like a granny" or "driving like an old
>man" or something to that effect.  If people say things like that, I
>haven't noticed it.  Then again, I suppose I might've heard it and just
>automatically figured from context what they meant, and didn't notice
>it.
Admittedly it's a forced example, and I don't think I've ever heard it
either, but it _could_ occur, whereas "he ran old" probably couldn't.  Part
of the problem seems to be that certain adjectives just plain lack a -ly
adverb form, 'old' and 'young' among them, along with 'fast' (he ran fast).
Then there are a few -ly forms that are actually adjectives (sickly), not to
mention adjectival 'well' (healthy, recovered from sickness).  Then there
are those verbs (seem, look, feel, etc) that can take the adjective but not
the adverb-- "He feels well" is not necessarily the same as "He feels good".

Then there are those who weren't paying attention in English class, who say
"He runs good" and other, worser offenses.  But I suspect we're all guilty
of such things once in a while.