# Eat me?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-me/193541>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 7, 2003, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-me/193541 "2003-08-07T06:49:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sock\_Munkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Sock\_Munkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sock_Munkey)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-me/193541/1 "2003-08-07T06:49:45Z")

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What would be the term for someone who eats one of their own fingers or some other part of their body that happened to get lopped off or pulled out? Self-cannibalism or something else?  
:eek:

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**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-me/193541/2 "2003-08-07T06:58:50Z")

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The _Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary_ lists the adjectives “self-devouring” and “autophagous”.

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**Author:** ![Sock\_Munkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Sock\_Munkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sock_Munkey)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-me/193541/3 "2003-08-07T07:40:52Z")

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Whew! for a second there when I saw it was a moderator who responded I thought I might have hit on something a little too sick even for this place!  
:o

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**Author:** ![SoulSearching](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@SoulSearching](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulSearching)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eat-me/193541/4 "2003-08-07T07:58:09Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by MEBuckner \*  
> \*\*The _Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary_ lists the adjectives “self-devouring” and “autophagous”. \*\*

Hey, I see you’re in Atlanta…so am I…a small world we live in eh? Well not really…it’s a big city.