...I actually harboured a suspicion you are aspergic... And please what ever could you possibly think comes out of my fawcetts?? Chokito Bars???
I've been accused of being cynical, pedantic, supercilious, presumptuous, imperious, high-handed, arrogant, sarcastic, blowhard and a wiseacre - among others - but never aspergic before. But they are all editorial comments, while yours is a medical diagnosis, one made without benefit of a formal consultation. As a politician and former newspaper editor, I am accustomed to the former. I am not accustomed to the latter without at least being a patient. Am I to be billed for this pleasure?
You are correct, starve has various meanings, but when referring to physiology or used intransitively, without an object (such as 'starved of oxygen' or 'starved for affection'), it is usual to intend it to mean 'to suffer or die from extreme or prolonged lack of food' rather than a general sense of deprivation. And it was in that sense I read it. When a child complains, "I'm starving" it is custom to understand the child is hungry, not deprived of, say, TV hours, or Wii time, or even a lack of sugary soda pop.
To be bereft of hydration is usually referred to as 'thirsty' (which, too, has a variety of synonyms), the resolution to which is water or other suitable liquids. When I feel the urge for a beer or glass of wine - or even a shot of tequila - I say I am thirsty, not I am starved. So if you meant starved in such an unexpected but linguistically acceptable-albeit-prone-to-misinterpretation definition, I apologize for my questions to which you took umbrage.
As for what comes out of your faucet, I cannot conjecture, but in general, urban tap water may contain water plus a variety of minerals, chemical compounds (some of which are organic), several contaminants such as pesticides and farming-industry chemicals, and even microorganisms. Liquefied chlorine is commonly used in municipal water systems, but fluorosilicic acid, aluminium sulphate, calcium hydroxide and sodium silicofluoride may also be used. None of these are generally accepted as nutritious, in the sense of providing food or anything that mitigates a "starved brain" if by which you meant hungry. However, if you meant his brain could be starved of fluoride, then you would, of course, be correct in your usage.
My own tap water, based on recent analysis by both the province and local water authority, contains merely H
2O with such a minute amount of other elements as to be negligible and well below any threshold for attention. It is as pure any any municipal water can be. I consider it refreshing, but not, in the sense of the word I use, nutritious. Again, I apologize if it seemed our non-mutual understanding of that term seemed at loggerheads.
Chokito bars? They are not available in any Canadian confectionery, at least to my knowledge. However, since I do not consume candy bars, nor do I normally even browse the candy counters looking for high-caloric white-sugar comestibles of dubious benefit to health and which promote tooth decay, I cannot say for certain. But I did grasp the general concept.
