The standard order of adjectives in English is the best example that I know of language users following a rule that they can't describe and probably don't know that they know. But they can spot when it's observed and when it's broken.
Jonathan
The standard order of adjectives in English is the best example that I know of language users following a rule that they can't describe and probably don't know that they know. But they can spot when it's observed and when it's broken.
From the Constitution of Ireland:
Not many people know, but Bertie Ahern is a barrow ex-boy.
Absolutely nobody?
Yes.Bmblbzzz wrote: ↑22 Nov 2021, 9:31am Going back to the ex-Irish PM or the Irish ex-PM, I think what's happening here is that Audax67 is seeing Irish as an adjective modifying the noun PM, whereas the speaker or writer is viewing "Irish PM" as one unit of vocabulary. We can see this in DaveReading's example above of the "barrow ex-boy", where "barrow boy" despite being a noun with an adjective, is linguistically one item. We can also see this by forgetting that he's Irish. We'd probably call him an ex-prime minister not a prime ex-minister, even though we might be able to argue that technically he is an ex-minister and is still, in whatever way, prime.
This comes up time and time again.Mick F wrote: ↑22 Nov 2021, 9:36am Was in the pub yesterday afternoon and I heard a young chap asking for a pint.
He said, "Can I get a pint of Legend?"
This put me in mind of a couple of years ago in a different pub, when the same question was asked (different beer though).
The landlord answered bluntly, "No."
The young chap looked shocked and bemused.
The landlord went on, "You can buy one and have one, but I will get one for you."
Excellent!
It annoys me because it is another example of the steadily increasing Americanisation of our English.