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Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Adjectival Order or The Most Elegant Through-composed Six-stanza’d English Nonsense Verse Ever Penn’d

First, a determiner – ‘a,’ ‘an’ or ‘the.’
Then a number or quantity – e.g., ‘three’ (duh!).  

An opinion or quality’s next, (perhaps ‘beautiful’).   
Size and age follow – assuming one’s dutiful.

Shape and/or color succeed size and age.
The adjective proper takes up the next stage –

for example, ‘Italian’ or ‘Chinese’ or ‘Greek’ –
off’ring origins – that is, the tongues people speak.

A purpose or facet ensues (one of sport…?)
whereupon there’s presented a noun of some sort.

Of course, there are ‘and’s and ‘or’s enter’d piecemeal.  
The result…? Adjectivally order’d ideal.

Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita Anagramaniacal Opening Lines

Lolita, light of my life...  ...might fail to yell "Foil!"...  ...or opt to yell "Epee!" -- she's just that unpredic...