# Am I a Cannibal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 15, 2001, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-cannibal/65468 "2001-05-15T03:11:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2001, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-cannibal/65468/1 "2001-05-15T03:11:44Z")
Following in suit with the _Am I a Pedophile?_ thread, started by **rastahomie** , I need to ask a question. As a nervous habit, I routinely nibble on the dead skin that lines the edge of my finger (you know the stuff). I also chew it, and occasionally swallow it… Does this make me an autocannibal? ---
**Author:** ![tubagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b77776/32.png) [@tubagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tubagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2001, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-cannibal/65468/2 "2001-05-15T03:16:15Z")
I do that a lot too. Especially when I"m either trying not to bite my nails, or I have no nails left. I rarely swallow the flesh though. Perhaps we can view it as recycling our own self??? ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2001, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-cannibal/65468/3 "2001-05-15T03:19:17Z")
I do it too, occasionally. What the heck, it grows back… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sylkyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@Sylkyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylkyn)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2001, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-cannibal/65468/4 "2001-05-15T03:26:47Z")
This is truly strange. I was doing that very thing while waiting on the damn page to load. I guess I can join the Cannibal Club, too. I’ve been doing this for oh…about thirty-five years now. Maybe we can vote me President or something. I really must be a cannibal. I have a thing about “man-eating” anyway… 😉 [sub]Talk about **begging** for a topic to be hijacked into sexual overtones… [/sub] ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2001, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-cannibal/65468/5 "2001-05-15T05:39:03Z")
Since probably nearly everybody does this to some degree or another (sticking a bloody cut finger in their mouths, chewing on chapped lips, etc.), I don’t think that society would define this as cannibalism. That’s a label for what is considered a wierd and deviant behavior, and I don’t think that (if it came to a vote) people would be willing to apply it this. So no, I don’t think that we’re cannibals. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2001, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-cannibal/65468/6 "2001-05-15T06:52:27Z")
I actually ate my whole finger, but it grew back. Really. What does that make me? Hey, gimme back my aluminum foil hat! ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2001, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-cannibal/65468/7 "2001-05-15T11:54:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SilkyThreat \* > \*\*This is truly strange. > > I guess I can join the Cannibal Club, too. I’ve been doing this for oh…about thirty-five years now. Maybe we can vote me President or something. > > [/sub] \*\* Great, the Cy Spernin (sp?) of self-consumption: I’m not just the President…I’m a consumer ---
**Author:** ![Morrison\_s\_Lament](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Morrison\_s\_Lament](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morrison_s_Lament)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2001, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-cannibal/65468/8 "2001-05-15T12:05:22Z")
Well, call me Hannibal and pass the brains. 😃 _biting nailskin_ — G. Raven ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2001, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-cannibal/65468/9 "2001-05-15T14:20:44Z")
“munch munch” hey, i do that to. i also chew on the inside of my mouth when i am nervous. but i dont chew on the fingernails themselves (they don’t taste very good) ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2001, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-cannibal/65468/10 "2001-05-15T14:36:48Z")
I think that it refers to eating the flesh of someone of your own kind, not of your own. It’s been asked of oral sex here many times. ---
**Author:** ![Xerxes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d2c977/32.png) [@Xerxes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xerxes)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2001, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-cannibal/65468/11 "2001-05-15T15:58:34Z")
There’s a particularly horrible syndrome which can affect young males … > [@](#): > > A striking feature of Lesch-Nyhan syndrome is self-destructive behavior characterized by chewing off fingertips and lips if not restrained. Anyone not already TMI’d can find more info [here](http://umm.drkoop.com/conditions/ency/article/001655.htm). God alone knows how I remembered that. I’ve a memory like a sieve but 17 years ago went out with a med-student. ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2001, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-cannibal/65468/12 "2001-05-15T18:44:58Z")
I always do that. If I cut myself, I don’t just lick the blood of, I have caught myself sucking as much out as I can… just a habit, I don’t do it on purpose. I also used to lick the blood from bottom of those plastic/stryofoam plates your steaks come in when you buy them in the store when I was younger too, but I broke that habit at least. I can’t believe I just admited to that. ---
**Author:** ![Tabithina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f04885/32.png) [@Tabithina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabithina)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2001, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-cannibal/65468/13 "2001-05-15T22:15:26Z")
I chew mine up pretty regularly, ever since I quit smoking. Before that, I would only do it when nervous or really bored. Prolly been at it for about thirty-seven years, altogether. If I hadn’t had a pliers in one hand and a partially finished earring in the other, I most certainly would have been gnawing away while I waited for this page to load, too. –Cannibal Kris ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2001, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-cannibal/65468/14 "2001-05-16T15:05:27Z")
do you like to nibble on other people’s fingers Speaker? ---
**Author:** ![Xerxes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d2c977/32.png) [@Xerxes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xerxes)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2001, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-cannibal/65468/15 "2001-05-16T15:30:08Z")
A whole new meaning on the phrase _ **finger food** _. And my misreading of Tabithina’s sentence as: **If I hadn’t had a pliers in one hand and a partially finished ear in the other, I most certainly would have been gnawing away while I waited for this page to load, too.** Has left me with an image I’m going to struggle to get rid of. Pliers! The very thought. ---
**Author:** ![mrblue92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2001, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-cannibal/65468/16 "2001-05-16T16:23:32Z")
Hey, I taste like chicken!