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This is from a native speaker who is describing an imaginary house:

"So, it was a stony, log cabin(y) castle kind of thing." Improve your english-Ronnie (see:2:58-3:13)

Subtitles show different texts for the part in paranthesis. So I can't be sure whether she says "cabin or cabiny".

The expression in the sentence "X kind of thing" reminded me the structure "kind of X." If I apply it to this sentence, it would basically be:

"So, it was kind of a stony castle." (unclear words removed)

To me, they seem to have the same meaning, however, I am not sure because I don't often see the structure "noun+kind of a thing" as in the case of "stony castle kind of a thing" rather than "kind of a stony castle"?

So, do you think "stony castle kind of a thing" is as valid as "kind of a stony castle?"?

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    To my mind, a stony, log, cabiny, castle kind of thing is "gibberish". I wouldn't advise trying to learn English from any source that encourages you to make up terms like that.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Feb 15 at 12:16
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    A log cabin and a castle are two completely different kinds of building, so the description is quite illogical (though she is describing a dream, and dreams often are illogical). An X kind of thing is a very informal way of saying "a thing vaguely resembling an X".
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Feb 15 at 13:06
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    @FumbleFingers People speak like that. They add y to all sorts of things as Michael has shown. And part of becoming really fluent in a language involves mastering this kind of thing. If someone has an advanced level, this is exactly the kind of question they should or might be asking.
    – Lambie
    Commented Feb 15 at 14:33
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    @Lambie, Exactly. I couldn't agree more.
    – Yunus
    Commented Feb 15 at 15:46
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    One outstanding example is "The Doctor"'s description of the nature of time not as a solid, static construct but "a big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff."
    – Andy Bonner
    Commented Feb 15 at 20:58

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  1. So, it was a stony, log cabin, castle kind of thing.

  2. So, it was kind of a stony log cabin castle.

Question: Do you think "stony castle kind of a thing" is as valid as "kind of a stony castle?" and they have the same meaning?

Yes, they are both valid but can mean slightly different things... *A/an x kind of thing.
*A kind of [adjective] noun.

a stony castle kind of thing: means it was like a stony castle.

WHEREAS: a kind of stony castle means the castle was not made of some other building material. For example: It was a kind of wooden castle. But it can also be: it was sort of stony.

Another example:
The shawl was a woolly kind of thing. [like wool]
The shawl was a kind of woolly thing. [as opposed to silky or cottony.]

HOWEVER, Sometimes in speech, they can mean the same thing as mentioned above and here.
The dirty clothes on the floor were a smelly kind of thing.
The dirty clothes on the floor were kind of a smelly thing.

OR NOT The heap of clothes were a kind of cotton.

Conclusion: when the noun kind means sort or type (a kind of [adj] thing), there is a distinction between the two. But only the speech context will make clear which is meant. Also, when kind of is not preceded by a, it won't mean sort or type. It was kind of stormy outside.

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  • @Yunus A general simplified rule of thumb: "kind of [adj]" = "somewhat [adj]"; "[adj] kind of a [noun]" = "[adj] type or category of a [noun]." But note, delete the adj from the last construct and it goes back to "somewhat." "He was kind of a jerk" = "He was [somewhat, sort of] a jerk." But "He was the sleaziest kind of con man" = "Of all types of con men, he was of the sleaziest variety."
    – Andy Bonner
    Commented Feb 15 at 21:02

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