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Examples
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University of Glasgow engineers have built and fired the first unsupported ‘autophage’ rocket engine which consumes parts of its own body for fuel.
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The design of the autophage engine - the name comes from the Latin word for ‘self-eating’ - has several potential advantages over conventional rocket designs.
ry commented on the word autophage
an organism that engages in autophagy.
—Territories of Evil, ed. Nancy Billias, 2008March 25, 2014
madmouth commented on the word autophage
is skin flesh? if you chew off someone else's hangnail, are you a cannibal?
March 25, 2014
bilby commented on the word autophage
In parts of Asia I used to see women sucking snot out of a child's runny nose. Just saying. There's some kind of nexus between eating and affection, care, bonding.
March 25, 2014
ry commented on the word autophage
from the autophagy page on Wikipedia, I went to a link that said there is disagreement as to whether things like nailbiting amount to autocannibalism. Pathologically speaking, that is. If you want to be super literal, yes, eating skin would make you a cannibal while hair and nails would not (since it's not "flesh" in the normal sense).
March 25, 2014
madmouth commented on the word autophage
I am clenching my invisible balls at that image, not that 'snotsucker' wouldn't be a fun band name. Disconcerting care practices
clearly picking one's nose isn't pathological and barbequing oneself or another is, but it seems more like a spectrum than a line. Mammals, at any rate, enjoy eating regenerable aspects of the body - breastfeeding, licking wounds, the whole amniotic process, golden showers, chewing off flaky skin parts, etc.
March 25, 2014
bilby commented on the word autophage
Just like hauling in thick fettucine with pesto, really.
March 26, 2014
ruzuzu commented on the word autophage
Ew!
March 26, 2014
fbharjo commented on the word autophage
phagephase?
March 26, 2014
alexz commented on the word autophage
"And then you're in the man from Mars
You go out at night, eatin' cars
You eat Cadillacs, Lincolns too
Mercuries and Subarus
And you don't stop, you keep on eatin' cars" - Blondie, Rapture
March 26, 2014
ruzuzu commented on the word autophage
This is perfectly grotesque, and I thank you all very kindly.
*wanders off to make a-snotty-list*
March 26, 2014
yarb commented on the word autophage
I think I'd need more than one suck to completely evacuate one of my kids' nostrils when they're snotting full-on.
March 26, 2014
ruzuzu commented on the word autophage
Madmouth's spectrum intrigues me. "Ovo-lacto" vegetarians eat milk and eggs, but not flesh. Do we need an equivalent distinction for cannibals and autophages?
March 26, 2014
ruzuzu commented on the word autophage
(And brackets around "snotting," please.)
March 26, 2014
yarb commented on the word autophage
You mean like, "I'm a muco-lactic cannibal - I eat snot and breastmilk, but not my own, and I don't do flaky skin-parts"?
March 26, 2014
ruzuzu commented on the word autophage
Exactly. I'm thinking there's an untapped market for muco-autophages and muco-cannibals wanting to try vegetarian options: soy-boogers, for example. Okra might work, too.
March 26, 2014
madmouth commented on the word autophage
mucilagenous alternatives for your mucosal pathology!
March 26, 2014
ruzuzu commented on the word autophage
Muesli!
March 26, 2014
bilby commented on the word autophage
Stop looking at me sideways. I am not going to bring in neti pots here.
March 26, 2014
qms commented on the word autophage
See also snottygobble.
April 10, 2016