the occasional songbook

[shootingstar]

. . .
There were other things coming back to her now too. His over-the-top reaction when she'd once told him about a customer - Ash, the surgeon and amateur guitar player who came into String Theory for the occasional songbook - casually asking Nora if she wanted to go for a coffee some time.
. . .
(The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, episode The Three Horseshoes)

What is meant by "a customer is coming into the music shop String Theory for the occasional songbook"? What does the adjective "occasional" express there? Does it mean it's a bargain or even a steal to buy the songbook now?

 

[5jj]

What is meant by "a customer is coming into the music shop String Theory for the occasional songbook"

It means that he comes in occasionally for a songbook.

 

[shootingstar]

In the original sentence "occasional" is used in a noun phrase as the attribute of "songbook" but, as you are saying, the meaning of "occasional" refers to the verb "come into": "He comes in occasionally for the songbook" - it's meaning is that of an adverb, actually. However, that sounds a bit strange to me. Is this (among others) common usage of "occasional"? What other adjectives are used that way? Is there a grammatical term for this usage? What is the general grammatical reason for this usage?

 

[emsr2d2]

It's a pretty common usage, even though, as you say, it appears on paper that "occasional" refers to the wrong thing!

a. I go to Starbucks for the occasional coffee.
b. He comes round to my house for the occasional chat.
c. We see the occasional wildcat behind our house.

In all those cases, two things are odd:
1. The use of "occasional" with the noun.
2. The use of the indefinite article.

In all honesty, I can't explain why we say this but we do! It would be just as easy to say "I occasionally go to Starbucks for a coffee", "He occasionally comes to my house for a chat" and "We occasionally see a wildcat behind our house", and I'm sure some people would word it that way. However, the original sentences a, b and c would all be readily understood by BrE speakers. I don't know if they work in other variants.

 

[jutfrank]

I don't think it's that odd, or needs any special explanation. It's listed as the first entry here in Cambridge:

occasional

1. not happening or done often or regularly: 2. not happening or done often or…

dictionary.cambridge.org

 

[NeoToad]

I think in this context, “occasional” means “from time to time” or “not regularly.” So the sentence simply means that Ash sometimes goes to String Theory music store to buy a songbook.