"cinnamon and nutmeg" vs. "nutmeg and cinnamon"

Question

I had a hunch that (at least in American usage) "cinnamon and nutmeg" was more common than "nutmeg and cinnamon". Sure enough, Google has 1.48M results vs. 829k results for these respectively; Bing shows 8.31M vs. 1.47M results respectively.
Why is this? It's hard to clearly make the case that one is easier to say than the other. Maybe because it's prosody -- the former feels more rythmical than the second? Or perhaps the "and" more naturally follows "cinnamon" than "nutmeg", because of the repeated "n" sound? Or is it likely just random linguistic evolution?
Google Ngram viewer shows that both phrases were used approximately equally in books in 1890, but "cinnamon and nutmeg" has developed a strong lead since then, currently used more than twice as frequently as "nutmeg and cinnamon" in English books.

Greybeard · Answer

Google has 1.48M results vs. 829k results for these respectively.

You should never believe the results as given. Always go to the bottom of the page and select the final page. On this you will see the true (or a close approximation) of the actual results:

"cinnamon and nutmeg": In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the 255 already displayed.

"nutmeg and cinnamon": In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the 238 already displayed.

The difference between 225 and 238 is statistically trivial.

Why is this?

It isn't.
To add: As far as Google Ngrams are concerned, the examples include "cinnamon, nutmeg" and "nutmeg, clove, ginger and cinnamon", etc. And they are not numerous. They also have to be read in context.

"cinnamon and nutmeg" vs. "nutmeg and cinnamon"

One Answer

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question