Native English speakers know it is proper to say "a cute little purple dog" and not "a purple cute little dog". Or "great big blue ocean" and not "blue big great ocean".
It's the thing we do and don't even know it. According to Mark Forsyth's book "The Elements of Eloquence", adjectives appearing before a noun appear in the following strict sequence: opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, purpose, noun. Even the slightest attempt to disrupt this sequence results in the speaker sounding just...off.
Grammar is so strange! Anyway, I'm off to locate my "beautiful little old circular red French wooden knitting needle".
