Word of the Day: Xanthinophile

A xanthophile (from Greek xanthë, 'blonde') is someone who loves the colour yellow. (This should not be confused with 'xanthophyll', from a Greek word meaning 'leaf-yellow' and referring to the pigment in yellowish leaves). However, my WotD is 'xanthinophile', someone who loves xanthine-containing preparations.

A xanthine is one of a small group of alkaloid molecules which are naturally formed in the body. However, the methylxanthines are stimulants that block sleep signals and thus keep you alert; they include theobromine (in chocolate, cacao, cocoa), theophylline (in dark chocolate, tea), and caffeine (in coffee, tea). They alleviate asthma and, as a huge number of modern scientific studies show, are boosters for almost all aspects of human health and well-being (the old word was 'wealth', but that's been corrupted).

Xanthinophiles are therefore people who love coffee, tea and/or chocolate and other preparations that are chemically related to these.

Food-Brain Synergy

I think that cafés are the most important social-intellectual invention of all time. They are better than debates, arenas, symposia, colloquia or any other social-interactive medium. Just yesterday I was with Wolfberry and Lioness and Elektra having breakfast. It was interesting to see how they had changed since they were new wyverns. There is more edge now, but the charm is still there. And their ideas about the world and how it should be and how they should be are all growing and becoming more solid.

Then there was lunch with the Red Magician, and how that managed to disinter lots of old long-buried interests I used to have in certain disciplines. It is very encouraging to me to see all these things.

I think the point is that the food is fuel, the caffeine is a catalyst that speeds things up towards eventual equilibrium. The time I spent earlier this week with Hierophant and Thinkpad was stimulating too. I hadn't realised how much stuff I'd picked up over the years until I actually tried to explain it to them. Which led me back to one of my favourite people, father Abraham.

All in all, this has been a good week for thinking. But now I have to get back to the grind of writing. Sigh. Thank God for the gift of theobromine and the other xanthines! Truly, theobromos, the 'essence of the Gods', is a wonderful thing!