I can't figure it out. I've seen both been used, but a nugget is presumably gold, or can golden be used as well?
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1From Google Books: goose that laid the golden egg:208000 hits, goose that laid the gold egg:21. But gold engagement ring:1370 hits, golden engagement ring:48.– FumbleFingersJun 27, 2014 at 16:06
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1An egg will hatch somewhere in the future, hence it contains a fetus, i.e. it's not entirely gold. Is that why the goose laid the "golden" egg, rather than the "gold" egg?– user76935Jun 28, 2014 at 12:25
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are gold/en and wood/en like mystic/al, classic/al, magic/al, comic/al?– BCLCSep 7, 2021 at 13:07
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1 Answer
Both meanings overlap, but not perfectly.
"Golden nugget" is ambiguous. It isn't clear if you mean that the nugget is made of gold, or if the nugget is golden in color.
"Gold nugget" indicates that the nugget is made of gold.
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2It's nowhere near that clear-cut. Countless millions of kids get a gold star for good quality schoolwork, but practically none of them would actually be made of gold. Jun 27, 2014 at 16:09
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2@FumbleFingers - It's not clear-cut for the word gold(en) in general, but it's pretty clear-cut when nugget is added. A golden nugget could turn out to be pyrite. A gold nugget is, or should be, composed of gold.– phenryJun 27, 2014 at 16:18
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To the extent that legal society informs language, in the US (and maybe other countries) there are regulations about the use of the term gold when applied to metals. That doesn't mean common parlance will follow those rules.– bibJun 27, 2014 at 16:32
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@phenry: I think it would be more reasonable to classify gold nugget as a "fixed phrase" (which we all expect to mean a nugget of gold). Given that the precise opposite occurs with the goose's golden egg referenced in my comment to the question, I don't see that one example as relevant to the general case. Jun 27, 2014 at 16:48
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1@FumbleFingers And there is rarely an investigation to see if the Fifth Day of Christmas is being fraudulently caroled.– bibJun 27, 2014 at 17:09