Alicorn comments on Being a teacher - Less Wrong
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To me, a "solitary blue Smurf" is the color blue, but a "blue, solitary Smurf" is sad.
From The Night Before Christmas
"He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,"
versus
"He was chubby and plump, a right old jolly elf,"
The original doesn't make me think that Saint Nick is literally old. It's more like the "old" in "good old boys" (which is another example; compare to "old good boys"). The transposition seems to change the literal meaning. If you permute some more, you can wind up with nonsense - "an old jolly right elf", "an old right jolly elf", etc.
As another example, I would have a different idea of what's being said if someone pointed out to me a "sweaty hot runner" versus a "hot sweaty runner". The first makes me think the runner is sexually attractive, but the second doesn't.
The nonsense permutations, where "right" doesn't come first, are probably because "right" is acting as an adverb here, modifying the adjectives and not the noun.
Ah, yes. That sounds right.