Gourmet, attributive and predicative adjective (was Re: re "foodie")

[Neal Whitman]

"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, 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. 
Neal

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Victor Steinbok" <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, December 09, 2011 12:46 AM
Subject: Re: re "foodie"


> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: re "foodie"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> By the way, I need to be educated here. OED lists Gourmet b. as
> "attributive and quasi-adjective". Is there any reason why "gourmet
> food" or "gourmet meal" does not have "gourmet" as just an adjective? It
> might have been attributive initially (i.e., food fit for a gourmet),
> but that is certainly not how it is used now. To make things even more
> interesting, we now have gourmet cuts, gourmet spices, gourmet
> preparations, gourmet quality, etc.
> 
>     VS-)

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