@mrundkvist Because in the English language, they can. Etymology-based prescriptivism is incompatible with actual language evolution.
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@btuftin
Someone pointed out that "neatly manicured lawn" is a common expression. It does not follow that "neatly manicured eyebrows" is also an accepted expression.
Someone pointed out that "neatly manicured lawn" is a common expression. It does not follow that "neatly manicured eyebrows" is also an accepted expression.
#Language changes constantly. It is meanwhile also true that at every point in time there are many usages (even quite common ones) that makes a speaker look hopelessly ignorant. Try "neatly pedicured lawn".
@mrundkvist Yes, "pedicured" wouldn't work. m-w.com doesn't even have pedicure listed as a verb. But manicure is listed with "groom" as one sense, and the example "manicured flower beds". And more important, usage of "manicured eyebrows" appears to be comparable to "groomed eyebrows". And it's not a new thing, as the ngram shows. I've left of the last two decades, in which they rose in parallel. You owe this "young person" an apology post. 😉 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=trimmed+eyebrows%2Cgroomed+eyebrows%2C+manicured+eyebrows&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3
@btuftin
I started 3rd grade in 1980. I assure you that the growth of manicured eyebrows after that date did not take place in any media I read!
@mrundkvist Looking at those graphs I think it's safe to say that eyebrows just aren't described that often, but if you do, "manicured" is a perfectly cromulent option.
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