taking it serious again

[Laurence Horn]

All those regurgitated posts on GWB's use of "take it serious" remind
me that I've heard this used twice since our discussion, once by Alex
Rodriguez, the baseball superstar who now plays in Texas (I can't
remember where he grew up, which is presumably more relevant, but
unlike several other Rodriguezes in the majors he's a native speaker
of English).  Maybe this IS a fixed collocation even for speakers who
don't normally use "serious" as an adverb ("I'm speaking serious"),
which supports the earlier suggestion that this is analyzed as an
adjective by the relevant speakers.   I wonder if it extends to
"treat it serious" and other similar variants.

larry