The last remaining X
We’ve all experienced it. You’re at a party and there is a plate of snacks or a bowl of olives or something. Everyone is eating them quite happily and then before you know it - shock horror - there is only one left! Suddenly, the olive bowl is a no-go area: nobody wants to be the one to have the last remaining olive.
It is such a common phenomenon that there just has to be a word for it. But in all my years of searching I have never found one. How can there be a word for the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth (Arachibutyrophobia), but not a word for this social menace?
May 27th, 2005 at 17:53
May I suggest, not a single word, but the phrase “dorsal morsel”?
‘Dorsal’ comes from the Latin word ‘dorsÄlis’ (from Latin dorsuÄlis, from dorsum) meaning back (as in on, in or near the back) and a ‘morsel’ is:
1) A small piece of food.
2) A tasty delicacy; a tidbit.
3) A small amount; a piece.
4) One that is delightful and extremely pleasing.
I feel morsel is particularly descriptive in this instance as the situation described usually only occurs when the snacks are tasty and therefore highly desirable. If the snacks are bland it is a bloomin’ miracle if there is only one left on the plate (unless of course it is 12:43 and the host *still* hasn’t finished cooking dinner!).
May 29th, 2005 at 11:22
Yeah that’s a great term! The use of “dorsal” is a little on the tenuous side - but that can be forgiven for the humorous rhyming term it creates. I dig it.