Like how we all face the door in an elevator or feel the need to say ‘ope’ when we almost bump into someone. What’s a silent rule of society that you find hilarious or totally unnecessary?
Like how we all face the door in an elevator or feel the need to say ‘ope’ when we almost bump into someone. What’s a silent rule of society that you find hilarious or totally unnecessary?
Order of Adjectives. You do this unconsciously and don’t even know you’re doing it.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/adjectives-order
“The big black house up on the hill.”
Never “The black big up on the hill house.”
1 - opinion - unusual, lovely, beautiful
2 - size - big, small, tall
3 - physical quality - thin, rough, untidy
4 - shape - round, square, rectangular
5 - age - young, old, youthful
6 - colour - blue, red, pink
7 - origin - Dutch, Japanese, Turkish
8 - material - metal, wood, plastic
9 - type - general-purpose, four-sided, U-shaped
10 - purpose - cleaning, hammering, cooking
My favorite one of these unconscious linguistic rules is expletive infixation. We say “fan-fucking-tastic” but “fanta-fucking-stic” sounds completely wrong.
That’s a language rule, tho
One could argue language rules are social rules tho
Yup, if you mix up the adjective order, people will look at you like you’re an alien.
“Your leader, to him take me!”