I’m sure everybody has, at some point in their lives, chewed off a little piece of skin or a bit of blood and eaten it (maybe from the lips or from the fingers). Does that make us a cannibal, or does it only count if it came from someone else? :eek:
From Merriam-Webster:
Main Entry: can·ni·bal
Pronunciation: 'ka-n&-b&l
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin Canibalis Carib, from Spanish Caníbal, from Taino Caniba, of Cariban origin; akin to Carib kari<glottalstop>na Carib, person
Date: 1553
: one that eats the flesh of its own kind
Technically, yes. We be cannibals.
I suspect it only applies for eating other people…but it does suggest that (paraphrasing) ‘this is my blood, this is my flesh’ of the Christian communion is cannibalistic in origin
UnwrittenNocturne that just makes us godivores.
I’d have to say no. What you’re describing is generally an act of pickiness or whatever. It has nothing to do with eating for nourishment or ritual purposes. Everyone has probably swallowed some of their own hair. 
Donner, party of fifty; your table is waiting!
[d & r]
You are what you eat.
I eat pizza.
Therefore, I am a pizza.
I am a pizza.
I eat pizza.
Therefore, I am a cannibal.
Chronos, look up “circular logic.”
circular logic: n. see Logic, circular.
Then uh, go find a round room and pee in the corner.
Don’t worry about a few bits of skin or fingernail until it becomes a significant portion of your calorie intake. As lutheran I take the meal in the body and blood of Christ in the form of a wafer and grape juice (so the wee tykes and those in recovery can commune too). It nourishes my soul but leaves me hungry for an omelette on Sundays.
General rule: never go to a dictionary for technicalities of usage.
The dictionary definition Ethilrist is technically true, but in practice no good writer would ever refer to eating a flap of skin from one’s body as cannibalism, except in the most ironic or jokey of senses. Even eating larger parts, like an arm, would have a qualifier of some kind, as in self-cannibalism, to distinguish it from the standard usage.
So where does that leave those of them who regularly consume 90-100% of their normal nose mucous output (not counting when they have colds)? Cannibals?
Or those of us who choose the a less messy disposal of produced fluids when … indulging an intercourse partner in alternative indoor calisthinetics? Cannibals?
What about losing weight? If I use my own body fat for energy, am I a cannibal?
Well, if you are starving, your body starts cannibalizing itself(fat, muscle, organ, in that order) for nutriets, etc.
What about eating a flap of skin from your body? If I did that, would I be a cannibal?
Answer: yes. The dictionary definition is fine with me. But maybe we need a different dictionary.
cannibal, n. 1. A person who eats the flesh of other humans. 2. An animal that feeds on others of its own kind.
Note the word flesh, not skin, nails, fat or excrement.
Please ignore the fact that I answered my own question incorrectly, I meant NO, obviously…
:rolleyes:
Is it ok if the flesh is eaten with fava beans and a nice chianti?
That depends on one’s interpretation. Also from m-w;
“1 : to take in through the mouth as food : ingest, chew, and swallow in turn.”
Note the “as food” part. 
Peace,
mangeorge
Everyone seems to be overlooking the definition of flesh. In gastronomical terms, flesh usually refers to meat, i.e. muscle. By this definition, eating skin/hair/nails doesn’t really count.
I think it could be referred to as auto-canniballism?
Hmm… Lady Godivore… ah, forget it.
The term you’re looking for is theophage.
As a matter of fact, theophagy is a recognized practice in religions. The native peoples of Mexico ate the psychedelic Psilocybe mushroom and called it teonanacatl, ‘flesh of the gods’. However, they were conquered by the Spanish a people whose own theophagic religion suppressed the mushroom cult… until it was rediscovered in the 1950s in the remote mountain town of Huautla de Jiménez by R. Gordon Wasson and his wife Valentina, a mycophile (mushroom lover) from Russia, a land of mycophiles.
Ah, psilocybin. The original Viagra. 