# There's a word for people who eat dirt...what is it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 2, 2003, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-word-for-people-who-eat-dirt-what-is-it/179044 "2003-06-02T01:57:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-word-for-people-who-eat-dirt-what-is-it/179044/1 "2003-06-02T01:57:31Z")
I heard this term used once a long time ago. It refers to people who literally eat dirt (they believe it has health benefits or something-or-other). IIR, it starts with pico- ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-word-for-people-who-eat-dirt-what-is-it/179044/2 "2003-06-02T02:17:56Z")
Actually, it’s _geophagy_----a form of **pica** ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-word-for-people-who-eat-dirt-what-is-it/179044/3 "2003-06-02T02:18:55Z")
Pica, chthonophagia and geophagia all mean dirt-eating. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-word-for-people-who-eat-dirt-what-is-it/179044/4 "2003-06-02T02:25:44Z")
[Pica](http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic1798.htm) is the general disorder which causes people to eat non-nutritive substances. Geophagia is specifically the compulsion to eat clay or dirt. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-word-for-people-who-eat-dirt-what-is-it/179044/5 "2003-06-02T02:39:54Z")
I had a college roommate who had a fish tank with a pair of fish he called “geophagus”. They scavenged for food by picking up mouthfuls of gravel off the bottom of the tank, sifting out the fish food, and then spitting it out the rocks. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-word-for-people-who-eat-dirt-what-is-it/179044/6 "2003-06-02T02:44:13Z")
Here’s [Cecil’s column on the subject.](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_090.html) ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-word-for-people-who-eat-dirt-what-is-it/179044/7 "2003-06-02T03:05:11Z")
Better a geophagus than a scatophagus, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-word-for-people-who-eat-dirt-what-is-it/179044/8 "2003-06-02T03:10:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Desmostylus \* > \*\*Better a geophagus than a scatophagus, I think. \*\* Didn’t we have a poster named **scatophagus**? If not, **Mangetout** needs a new cause. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-word-for-people-who-eat-dirt-what-is-it/179044/9 "2003-06-02T03:42:37Z")
Continuing the hijack, there’s a fish called [_Scatophagus Argus_](http://www.o-fish.com/DirektoriIkanTawar/Scatophagus_argus.htm), which means “hundred-eyed shit-eater”. ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-word-for-people-who-eat-dirt-what-is-it/179044/10 "2003-06-02T04:43:11Z")
Heh, I read that article and discovered I have pagophagia 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![herman\_and\_bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f1d935/32.png) [@herman\_and\_bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/herman_and_bill)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-word-for-people-who-eat-dirt-what-is-it/179044/11 "2003-06-02T10:08:42Z")
Is it true that in the south(US) there are convenience stores that sell packaged dirt? I think I recall reading about this. ---
**Author:** ![something\_clever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@something\_clever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/something_clever)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-word-for-people-who-eat-dirt-what-is-it/179044/12 "2003-06-02T10:15:41Z")
I’ve never seen one… been all over texas, oklahoma, louisiana, alabama, mississippi, georgia, and florida. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-word-for-people-who-eat-dirt-what-is-it/179044/13 "2003-06-02T20:39:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by herman\_and\_bill \* > \*\*Is it true that in the south(US) there are convenience stores that sell packaged dirt? I think I recall reading about this. \*\* It’s called Skoal. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-word-for-people-who-eat-dirt-what-is-it/179044/14 "2003-06-02T21:27:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by herman\_and\_bill \* > \*\*Is it true that in the south(US) there are convenience stores that sell packaged dirt? I think I recall reading about this. \*\* Yes. Clay to be more precise. Kaolin (white clay, also used to make fine china) to be even more precise. I saw some in a store in south Georgia just yesterday, conveniently packaged in bite-sized chunks, and sitting right by the cash register in prime impulse-buy location. 🙂 As Cecil noted in his column, kaolin is also the active ingredient in Kaopectate (which may help explain why some folks munch it). ---
**Author:** ![herman\_and\_bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f1d935/32.png) [@herman\_and\_bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/herman_and_bill)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2003, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-a-word-for-people-who-eat-dirt-what-is-it/179044/15 "2003-06-02T22:41:15Z")
Thanks Spoke, I was just pretty curious about that after reading the article some time ago.