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June 06, 2003
Major Domestic Tragedy
After several years of good and faithful service, our filter coffee machine turned up its little toes last night, going postal and blowing fuses all over the kitchen as it went. We could, of course, just buy another filter coffee machine. But when researching options for doing so, our heads were turned by the discovery of domestic beans-to-cup machines.
Wow. What better way to spend my latte-free-lifestyle money?
Of course, they're roughly the size and price of a solid office laser printer. And we're supposed to be back in Anti-Consumer mode, after the troubling discovery that the amount of money on the currently-interest-free-credit-card is somewhat greater than the amount of money in the savings account that's supposed to cover it when the interest free period runs out. (And it's a *lot* of money, too.)
In other news, I read a little about Buddhism; and in particular the Realm of the Hungry Ghosts, full of people who don't enjoy the simple pleasures of life because they're always faunching after the next consumer good.
Posted by Alison at June 6, 2003 10:19 PM
Comments
Faunching?
Posted by: Martin Sutherland at June 7, 2003 08:03 PM
What? It doesn't add the right amount of whisky and a shot of whipped cream on top? Tell Callahan to send it back!!
Posted by: Chris O'Shea at June 7, 2003 08:08 PM
"Faunch" is a handy term in science fiction fandom, meaning roughly 'to yearn for in a none-too-healthy way'.
Posted by: Alison Scott at June 8, 2003 10:07 AM
Aha. So that's why the list of search results Google gave me for "faunching" consisted mostly of fannish blogs and pages. Any idea about the word's origins?
Posted by: Martin Sutherland at June 8, 2003 02:26 PM
ran accross the expression "faunching at the bit" while trying to find out whether the correct expression is "champing or chomping at the bit. I believe most people use champing incorrectly because they don't know the word champing. Any input?
Posted by: linda at September 1, 2004 09:05 PM
OK, let's see. Chambers doesn't list the 'chomping at the bit' definition of 'chomp', but it does give the etymology of 'chomp' as a variant of 'champ'. So although 'champing at the bit' is definitely the proper phrase, 'chomping at the bit' is only a tiny tiny bit wrong.
Posted by: Alison Scott at September 3, 2004 01:17 PM
Take the meaning from an old country boy. Faunching (faunchin')at the bit, or chomping (champing) at the bit, means raring to go. A bit is a metal mouthpiece of a bridle to control horses. It goes in the mouth. A horse that is fanching the bit is bitting down on the bit and pulling at the leathers. He is anxious and wants to take off. Sometimes as if in a race. A dictionary meaning for faunch(Obscure) - to display angry excitement: rant and rave. Champ -
to bite or chew upon noisily. A horse may be champing while he is faunching.
Posted by: cal at April 24, 2005 04:46 PM