this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2024
18 points (90.9% liked)

English usage and grammar

363 readers
1 users here now

A community to discuss and ask questions about English usage and grammar.

If your post refers to a specific English variant, please indicate it within square brackets (for instance [Canadian]).

Online resources:

Sibling communities:

Rules of conduct:

The usual ones on Lemmy and Mastodon.. In short: be kind or at least respectful, no offensive language, no harassment, no spam.

(Icon: entry "English" in the Oxford English Dictionary, 1933. Banner: page from Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Tale".)

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
pglpm@lemmy.ca
pglpm@mander.xyz
pglpm@lemmy.sdf.org
18
My brain defaults to calling this sandwich the “East Coast Spicy Italian” instead of its actual name. Is that because the adjectives are out of order? (lemmy.world)
submitted 9 months ago by Squorlple@lemmy.world to c/english@lemmy.ca
8 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Going off of this sequence of adjectives, “East Coast” would be categorized as origin (7) and “spicy” would categorized as type (9), correct?

all 9 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] squiblet@kbin.social 13 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

The key is that it’s named like a variation of another sandwich. If it was a Spicy Italian in an East Coast version, it would be the East Coast Spicy Italian. However it’s the spicy version of the East Coast Italian, so it’s a Spicy East Coast Italian. Of course, they don’t have a non-spicy East Coast Italian, but I’m pretty sure that’s the thinking.

[–] Squorlple@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Ah, ok. So it’s crucial to know that there is an existing type of sandwich just named “East Coast Italian”. That clears it up. Thanks all for answering.

[–] akilou@sh.itjust.works 3 points 9 months ago

I don't know if I've ever ever eaten at Jimmy John's, but my first reading of this was exactly that: that there must be a non spicy version and this is the spicy one. Must have been the adjectival order

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

It's an East Coast Italian, but spicy.

[–] ReallyKinda@kbin.social 4 points 9 months ago

I think “Spicy” would be a physical quality.

Like someone else said I would think about “East Coast Italian” as a proper noun for a common sandwich (ie “peanut butter and jelly”) and “spicy” as a modifier on the whole thing (ie spicy peanut butter and Jelly sandwich)

[–] AlpacaChariot@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

I'm with you on this, it sounds wrong in that order. They are probably trying their best not to infringe someone else's trademark or something.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca -5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

We've been inundated with "follow steps bellow para and revert" for so long that "the above text" and "instructions following" don't seem to raise an eyebrow -- let alone inspiring concern about the writer having an aneurysm.

Adjective Order is a bridge too far.