Has this ever happened to you: You write a question, include a list or two in the discussion, and then come back to edit that list because the order doesn't sound "right"? Off the top of my head, I can remember it happening to me twice here on English L&U: I changed God, man, and nature to read man, nature, and God when answering one question, and the tireless kiamlaluno edited a question of mine from trunk…boot to boot…trunk.
Why in fact do certain constructions of lists sound more pleasant to the ear than others?
Why can't it be child, man, and woman rather than man, woman, and child? All the principles I can think of, such as ordering by "natural" progression, ordering by length of word, and ordering to preserve internal rhyme, seem to have exceptions or be violated for some sayings. Does one principle have supremacy over the other? Are there any others I'm missing? And finally, how can we be sure what sounds pleasant isn't just historical inertia carried over from a first well-recognized coinage?
Best Answer
I think the primary principle guiding our list-making probably comes from the meanings of the words: as in your example "man, nature and God," we put them in an order that makes sense somehow (size, importance, etc.).
After that, I think meter, rhyme and alliteration factor into our ordering. It would be interesting to look at well-established lists and determine what meter they use and whether dactyls are more common than trochees (Adam and Eve vs. Eve and Adam) and so forth.
Of course, previously established list orders will trump others, so that's why certain lists will sound "wrong."