Think of the sentence: "Poor little girl." Would we ever say, "Little poor girl"? The former sounds right, while the latter does not. How do we know, when using 2 adjectives, which goes first? I think it might be the stress. In the first phrase, for example, we emphasize the "poor," while in the second the "little." However Shu does not agree with me. He says we would always use the phrase the first way, and he wondered how we learn which adjective goes first.

Thoughts?

There is an order to adjectives.
General opinion
Specific opinion
Size
Shape
Age
Colour
Nationality
Material

Like most language, it is acquired before we start school and we never have to think consciously about it.

Oh, Goofy, that is perfect. Thanks so much. Shu is going to take a look as well. I had no idea it was so spelled out.

As far as I know, overnight is an adjectve yet it is ow increasingly common to hear weathermen treating it like a noun: " Clouds will increase duruing the overnight." Whassup?

I think with "overnight" the word "hours" is understood to follow and therefore dropped.

I've heard "overwinter" several times, and it seems OK to me. As for "little poor girl, it tells me she's indigent as well as petite.

So you take it as "indigent?" I take it as "sad" little girl, or as one definition in the dictionary says, "exciting pity, as in 'you poor thing'."