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Nov 2, 2007

This week's theme
Words related to food

This week's words
verjuice
jentacular
cibarious
macaronic
xerophagy

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Adjectives

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xerophagy

noun: The eating of dry food, especially food that's cooked without oil.

From Latin xero- (dry), from Greek xeros + Latin -phagy (eating), from Greek phagia. In the early Christian Church, xerophagy meant eating food cooked in water and salt during Lent. Xerophagy has also been practiced in prison and in the military as a form of punishment.

"Your Uncle Charles had his blood cholesterol tested late last week. Though the verdict rendered was no worse than a rather unperspicuous 'Normal to Upper-normal', the penultimate modifier has caused, as you might anticipate, much pacing and high-decibel whingeing, as well as vows of eternal xerophagy from here on out."
David Foster Wallace; Infinite Jest; Little, Brown and Company; 1996.

X-Bonus