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This could be a moderately pedantic point, however, as a native English speaker the word order of,

The older, desktop computer.

somehow "feels" more correct than

The desktop, older computer.

Is this just me being odd, or is this an actual rule in English?

To be clear, in this context, one can have a "desktop computer" or a "rack computer".

James Geddes
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    Do not answer in comments. Write an answer. It can even be an incomplete germ of an answer, but please put it in the right place. – Andrew Leach Sep 21 '21 at 15:22
  • @AndrewLeach I did attempt an answer below. From other comments it sounds like it might be incorrect, but I tried :D – James Geddes Sep 21 '21 at 15:24
  • That comment wasn't aimed at you, but rather at the writers of the deleted comments and anyone else who might think about putting the answer in the wrong place. Perhaps I should have used something like "@All", which might be OK until that is actually a relevant username. Sorry for any misunderstanding. – Andrew Leach Sep 21 '21 at 15:26
  • @AndrewLeach No worries, I was a little confused! – James Geddes Sep 21 '21 at 15:28

2 Answers2

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As BillJ pointed out in a comment, an Attributive Noun + Noun, especially a well-known thing like shoe store, laptop computer, fire extinguisher, etc., is rarely separated by an adjective.

Many of these attributive nouns overlap in nature with adjectives of purpose, but the first (attributive/descriptive) noun forms a practically inseparable bond with the following noun; the pair defines the thing or concept.

For example:

A suitable plastic table.
A suitable, sturdy, plastic card table
(a square table with foldable legs especially suited for (card) games with up to four players).

A successful three-day sale
A successful three-day fire sale (a sale after destruction/damage of a business by fire)

A long business letter (type of letter)
Our 18th Annual Going-Out-Of-Business Sale
(humorous store banner in a cartoon, but still a type of sale)

We bought giant yellow water noodles for the kids.
(tube-shaped floats for the water).

A business opportunity (a type of opportunity)
A golden business opportunity

Adjectives before the noun + noun still are used in the typical order that grammar books explain to learners of English; however, native speakers use the "correct" order instinctively because usually only one or two "sound right." I don't remember ever being taught the order as a native speaker of English, and I'd have to mentally try out combos to check a grammar book's order.

If we want to invent a rule, you can think of a noun + noun as if written noun-noun ( a single thing or concept), with any intervening adjectives a no-no. :-)

And last, but not least (or perhaps least amount of clothing), a hit pop song from 1960:

An Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

[itsy-bitsy] [teenie-weenie] yellow [polka dot] bikini
(Polka dots: a decorative pattern with large dots).

DjinTonic
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Adjective order puts age before type.

  1. opinion
  2. size
  3. physical quality
  4. shape
  5. age
  6. colour
  7. origin
  8. material
  9. type
  10. purpose

Source: dictionary.cambridge.org. (n.d.). Adjectives: order - English Grammar Today - Cambridge Dictionary. [online] Available at Cambridge Dictionary.

‌

Shayan Shafiq
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James Geddes
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    'desktop' is not an adjective, it's a noun-adjunct and syntactically needs to be directly next to the noun it modifies. – Mitch Sep 21 '21 at 14:00
  • In this context, could "desktop" be a type in the same way that general-purpose, four-sided, U-shaped are types? – James Geddes Sep 21 '21 at 14:05
  • No, because the items you cite are compound adjectives, i.e. single words. – BillJ Sep 21 '21 at 14:22
  • Is this answer incorrect then? If so, I will gladly delete it. – James Geddes Sep 21 '21 at 14:31
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    @JamesGeddes It seems the data is not incorrect, but it isn't the answer to the question you asked. It answers "blue old computer", where adjectives are ordered badly, but not the case where the "adjective" is a noun adjunct (or "attributive noun"). – Andrew Leach Sep 21 '21 at 15:24
  • @Mitch Agree, this also eliminates the need for the comma since there are not multiple adjectives. It should be "the older desktop computer", not "the older, desktop computer". – Nuclear Hoagie Sep 21 '21 at 15:38
  • @JamesGeddes I question the numbered list: shape does not come before age. The old, square table not the square, old table. – DjinTonic Sep 21 '21 at 21:06