Give Good X; Shalom Chaver

[Jesse Sheidlower]

> Has there been any work done one the construction "gives good X"? My guess is that
> it comes from "gives good head" but as can be seen in the quote below, we're a long
> way from that now.

The Random House HDAS has "give good [or great] ---- (followed by
sing. count noun treated as mass noun) to be notable for ----;
to be notable for the use of or abilities with ----. [Used to
generate usu. joc. nonce phr., all reminiscent of (and patterned
after) _give head_ s.v. head, n.", with citations from 1971 onwards.

The construction also seems to have been discussed in a 1983 article
in American Speech which I can't find right now.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED