Gourmet, attributive and predicative adjective

[Joel S. Berson]

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.

Something like "artisanal"?

Joel

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