Look at that white big house!

Look at that white big house!  That “sounds” wrong, doesn't it?  It should be “big white house”.  But why does the order of the adjectives (“white” and “big”) matter to us?  I don't remember ever being taught rules about adjective order in school – and yet, we all “know” them.  What's up with that?  Our brains work in strange ways – read about it (and try to ignore the fact that it's on Slate)...