Adjective/adverb

Question

Dear people,here's a question from Old Europe.I saw this first in the movie "Blues Brothers"but in different places afterwards.In the movie, there is a band travelling in a tour bus, and on the bus is the writing "Direct from Nashville". I take it this is short for "We are coming direct from Nashville." So - why isn't it "directly"? Is "direct" not an adverb here?Sorry if this seems like a stupid question butGerman adverbs look exactly like the adjectives.One of the few occasions where Germanis easier than English.

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[nq:1]In the movie, there is a band travelling in a tour bus, and on the bus is the writing "Direct ... short for "We are coming direct from Nashville." So - why isn't it "directly"? Is "direct" not an adverb here?[/nq]
it's used as an adjective - the logic (whether or not correct) is that someone that is (doing something) "directly" is "direct".

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Today, Lothar Frings abed:
[nq:1]on the bus is the writing "Direct from Nashville". I take it this is short for "We are coming direct from Nashville." So - why isn't it "directly"? Is "direct" not an adverb here?[/nq]
I can think of a few possibilities:

1. It's shorthand or incorrect for 'directly'.
2. 'Direct' is an adjective. The bus is direct.
3. 'Direct' is a noun, meaning a vehicle that travels directly. The busis thus the direct from Nashville. (Cf. "the 2 a.m. from Boston".)

I don't like the second possibility. That is, it sounds bad to my ears, and I doubt that that's what was meant. I suspect the first possibility was meant, but the third seems most correct to me.

Michael Hamm
AM, Math, Wash. U. St. Louis
(Email Removed) Standard disclaimers: http://math.wustl.edu/~msh210/ ... legal.html

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Is there a new Europe? (Well, since England just played a European Group World Cup football match against Azerbaijan, perhaps.
[nq:1]In the movie, there is a band travelling in a tour bus, and on the bus is the writing "Direct ... short for "We are coming direct from Nashville." So - why isn't it "directly"? Is "direct" not an adverb here?[/nq]
In my opinion, it is - in a slangy way.
I don't believe that words can be defined in themselves as adjectives or adverbs: it's how they operate in a sentence that counts (perhaps the Germans are onto something there). Not all adverbs end in "-ly" of course ("straight from Nashville" would be fine, but the question of adverb, adjective, or even noun would arise again - if anyone thought parsing was more important than meaning).
Semantically, there's an overlap between adverbs and adjectives, and sometimes they do double service. Samuel Beckett was a master at simultaneously exploiting the double and treble uses of words, perhaps because he saw consciousness as a changing state of being - "Imagine Dead Imagine" (what part of speech is "dead" there?). If a man walks shivering into the room, is "shivering" an adjective or an adverb? Is he shivering or is his walk a shivering one? He walked shiveringly into the room. Is there much difference? Does it matter?
For a non-native speaker of English, perhaps the best thing is to approach this through idioms rather than grammar, and find out which forms (like "fastly") are unpermissible. In the case of "direct", use it as an adjective in formal writing, but any old how when you speak informally, is my suggestion.
[nq:1]Sorry if this seems like a stupid question but German adverbs look exactly like the adjectives. One of the few occasions where German is easier than English.[/nq]
I've always been under the impression that German was easier than English, though, being English, I'm not in a position to say. It's certainly easier to me than French, though slightly harder than Italian.

Peasemarch.

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In our last episode,
(Email Removed), the lovely and talented Lothar Frings
broadcast on alt.usage.english:
[nq:1]Dear people, here's a question from Old Europe. I saw this first in the movie "Blues Brothers" but in different ... short for "We are coming direct from Nashville." So - why isn't it "directly"? Is "direct" not an adverb here?[/nq]
"Direct" is (also) an adverb (MWCD11).
A number of words have both an adverb form identical to the adjective form and an adverb form in "-ly," at least in some senses.
[nq:1]Sorry if this seems like a stupid question but German adverbs look exactly like the adjectives. One of the few occasions where German is easier than English.[/nq]
Lars Eighner ~~finger for geek code~~ (Email Removed) http://www.io.com/~eighner/ "The very essence of the creative is its novelty, and hence we have no standard by which to judge it." Carl R. Rogers, On Becoming a Person

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In our last episode,
,
the lovely and talented Michael Hamm
broadcast on alt.usage.english:
[nq:2]on the bus is the writing "Direct from Nashville". I ... why isn't it "directly"? Is "direct" not an adverb here?[/nq]
[nq:1]I can think of a few possibilities: 1. It's shorthand or incorrect for 'directly'.[/nq]
MWCD11 dates "direct" as an adverb to the 14th century and "directly" to the 15th century.
[nq:1]2. 'Direct' is an adjective. The bus is direct. 3. 'Direct' is a noun, meaning a vehicle that travels directly. ... that that's what was meant. I suspect the first possibility was meant, but the third seems most correct to me.[/nq]
Lars Eighner ~~finger for geek code~~ (Email Removed) http://www.io.com/~eighner/ "The very essence of the creative is its novelty, and hence we have no standard by which to judge it." Carl R. Rogers, On Becoming a Person

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[nq:1]In the movie, there is a band travelling in a tour bus, and on the bus is the writing "Direct ... short for "We are coming direct from Nashville." So - why isn't it "directly"? Is "direct" not an adverb here?[/nq]
Or: "This is a direct bus (one that makes no stops along the way) from Nashville.
If it's a broadcast "Coming to you direct from Nashville", it's similar: "Coming to you as a direct broadcast (not filmed or taped earlier) from Nashville."

Stefano ("Mr Know-it-All") MacGregor

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[nq:1]Is there a new Europe? (Well, since England just played a European Group World Cup football match against Azerbaijan, perhaps.[/nq]
[nq:2]In the movie, there is a band travelling in a ... why isn't it "directly"? Is "direct" not an adverb here?[/nq]
[nq:1]In my opinion, it is - in a slangy way. I don't believe that words can be defined in themselves as adjectives or adverbs: it's how they operate in a sentence that counts (perhaps the Germans are onto something there).[/nq]
Prezackly. I get all defensive when the linguistics careerists chuck out "Latin grammar" as a Pavlovian boo-word, because I haven't yet seen their newspaper articles or their poetry or their car-maintenance manuals; but the fact is, English doesn't work that way. To that extent, they're right; but they weren't the first to realize it. Almost any part of speech in English can be used as if it were any other known, unknown, or unimaginable part of speech: the only difficult bit is knowing where to stop.
Mike.

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(An explanation)
Thanks to all, I think I understand it now.

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[nq:1]Is there a new Europe?[/nq]
I'm just quoting a contemporary mass murderer.
Maybe one shouldn't do that.

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[nq:1]I don't believe that words can be defined in themselves as adjectives or adverbs: it's how they operate in a ... question of adverb, adjective, or even noun would arise again - if anyone thought parsing was more important than meaning).[/nq]
"straight" is no more an adverb or less an adjective than "direct" - why is that ok while this is not?

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