Gourmet, attributive and predicative adjective

[Laurence Horn]

On Dec 9, 2011, at 4:02 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> At 12/9/2011 11:17 AM, Neal Whitman wrote:
>> "Gourmet shaving", too:
>> http://literalminded.wordpress.com/2006/07/26/gourmet-shaving/
>>
>> From the blog post:
>>  Now, though, gourmet is a true adjective, at least for speakers
>> who can modify it with adverbs to get very gourmet or truly
>> gourmet, add suffixes to get gourmetly or gourmetness,
>
> Do these get pronounced gour-MET-ly and gour-MET-ness?
>
>> or can use it after be, as in is very gourmet.
>>
>>  Once gourmet has gained status as an actual adjective, then it
>> can mean just "made or done with the finest materials and the
>> greatest care," and if that's all it means, then why wouldn't it be
>> used to describe anything that could be made or done this way? And
>> sure enough, I Googled for and found attestations of gourmet
>> manicure, gourmet pedicure, and gourmet massage, and gourmet sex.

The last of which might hark back to _The Joy of Sex: A Gourmet Guide_ --hey, that's been around as long as my dissertation (1972).  Time does fly when you're having fun.
>
> Something like "artisanal"?
>
--which I've always been a bit confused about how to pronounce.  Rhymes with "seasonal"?  Or with "whizzinal" (an old form of "urinal")?  Or neither?

LH

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