Very interesting connotation to those words. Some kind of implicit law of diminishment for the cultural leanings of English speaking countries perhaps.
Perhaps, but both phrases are still meaningful, which demonstrates that the supposed rule above is more flexible than the author indicated. I don’t believe I sound like a maniac for changing the word order–though that’s what a maniac would probably say.
The "Green great dragon" example is Tolkien, from his school days. He was corrected by his teacher for writing that. He went on to become a linguist, who created at least 15 languages, some of which are complete enough to hold conversations in (i.e. Elvish, as you saw in the LotR movies). 🤣
That’s the beauty of it (at least if you’re a native English speaker). You don’t have to remember it at all - it just comes out that way - anything else sounds wrong.
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Now I need to know if someone has actually codified it...
Every rule of English has its exception ;)
Little golden crouching tiger young hidden green dragon.
Lovely little old desk sounds far better.
If dragons existed, I'm fairly sure the field guide to dragons would name the green one among the genus of largest dragons... Green Great Dragon.
Bonus: Tick Tock (ablaut reduplication)
But it's also not as set in stone as this presents it & there are differences of opinion regarding certain adjectives classifications as well.
https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=27890