Words are so fun. I am apparently a bit mixed-up in that I enjoy art and also word games - which normally don't go together I am told. Oh well. So this little article caught Dan and my attention in The Week and I know it will appeal to some of my friends in particular... It quotes from Robert Colville in the Daily Telegraph:
"Yesterday... my colleague introduced me to the hierarchy of adjectives. This is the unspoken rule that descriptions tend to go opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose: for example, "a lovely little 1970s Bakelite radio", or a "hideous new green crinoline dress." Put any of the words in the wrong order and the meaning breaks down. Thus Ken Livingstone (infamous British has-been politician) can be a "ghastly old socialist relic", but, "socialist ghastly old relic" sounds off."
Interesting - let's try describing ... Frodo - "an adorable playful little furry black dog" ... Dan - "my wonderful, kind, fun, fairly tall middle-aged American husband." Yes I think it works, but you should add in quality between opinion and size, don't you agree? How about UCU - "outstanding, growing, still young Christian university training young professionals in Uganda." Yep.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete