My only problem with the shirt is that it’s based on the “Big Bang Theory” corruption of the copyrighted song by Edith Newlin, which is an adaptation of a Polish folk song, “Wlaz kotek na plotek.” Some not-so-smart writer, writing characters supposed to be smarter than he is (or some stupid lawyer thinking to avoid paying royalties?) screwed up the lyrics and mis-taught a generation of the less-than-literate.
And, of course, Newlin’s lyrics ordering the adjectives as first “warm” then “soft” follow the adjective order “rule” that any literate person simply knows from having read a lot of text written by literate writers:
Quantity, Value/opinion, Size, Temperature [warm], Age, Shape, Colour, Origin, Material [soft]
Hence, to any moderately well-read person (or person who is simply fluent in well-spoken English), Newlin’s “Warm kitty, soft kitty does not grate the way the “Big Bang Theory’s” corruption of her lyrics do. . . in a way that makes the characters who use the BBT’s corruption sound “Dumber than the average 5th grader.”
But apart from that I like the shirt. Oh, and Big Bang Theory’s not a bad show, apart from its laughable depiction of “smarter than the writers” characters. In fact, that alone sometimes makes it worth viewing for laughs.
That’s a rule I never became aware of as I was growing up. I guess I’m not that observant.
I am happy to have learned a new thing so early in the day.
Perri, I suspect you unconsciously follow that rule, anyway, given as much well-written text as you have read from literate writers. I only notice it nowadays because of the proliferation of badly spoken and even more badly written English I hear and read so much of late.
*sigh*
Seriously: subliteracy, a-literacy, and flat-out illiteracy were not endemic 40-50 years ago, whereas today. . . (To steal and adapt the Chicken Man tag), “It’s everywhere! It’s everywhere!” *dramatic musical motif*