Re: OT: libraries (was Re: dialectal diversity in English)

Quoting BP Jonsson <bpj@...>:

> At 07:15 8.5.2003 -0400, John Cowan wrote:
>
> >Adam Walker scripsit:
> >
> > > Are other languages as silly about the ordering of
> > > adjectives as English?
> >
> >Well, at least the distinction between "public Swedish libraries" and
> >"Swedish public libraries" carries semantic information.  JRRT, when
> young,
> >wrote a story about a "green great dragon": his mother pointed out
> that
> >it had to be "great green dragon", though no reason for this is
> known.
> >In general, changing the ordering of adjectives either produces a
> soft
> >error (like "green great dragon", which is intelligible but
> ungrammatical),
> >or else changes the meaning.
>
> Unless of course a "great dragon" is a special kind of beast from a
> mere
> "dragon",
> and comes in different colors.  I'm sure the adult JRRT would have
> taken
> that bent!
One of the great philosophical questions brought upon us by the Warhammer
game*; a particular dragon is a Great Dragon, but it is also a Green Dragon.
Does this make it a Great Green Dragon or a Green Great Dragon? "Green"
and "Great" are here technical terms refering to game mechanics ...

* It's a tabletop wargame in a Fantasy setting.

                                                        Andreas