When we describe something in English, the ordering of our adjectives is very important. It goes something like this: Opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, purpose and – finally – noun. Thus “comely contemporary Cuban counterfeit cologne” sounds more appealing, say, than “pirated Peruvian present-day pretty perfume”. Alliteration, of course, adds the spice.
Curiously, when repeating a word that is almost the same but with different vowels, there is also a specific order. An I always goes before A, an A always goes before an O, and an O is always last. Thus: Splish-splash, hip-hop, pitter-patter and pish-posh. Mess with that vowel order and say crazy things like dong-ding, tat-for-tit, or flop-flip, and you’re in the land of hyperbaton.
Needless to say, no one wants to be in that disconcerting place. Stick with the I-A-O, and all will be top-tip.
With no trickery at all,
– Your nice medium-sized human-shaped multi-national flesh-toned friends at the IAO
+ All this and more in our April newsletter
