Given Stef's bizarre and seemingly ever increasing tendency to be eating, chewing, biting throughout podcasts, esp. listener conversations (which in any book is considered as rude, unless you're like a diabetic who needs to eat at certain points) this Wikipedia entry about oral fixation may be interesting:

Quote:

An oral fixation (also oral craving) is a fixation in the oral stage of development manifested by an obsession with stimulating the mouth (oral) first described by Sigmund Freud, who thought infants are naturally and adaptively in an oral stage, but if weaned too early or too late, may fail to resolve the conflicts of this stage and develop a maladaptive oral fixation. In later life, these people may constantly "hunger" for activities involving the mouth. If a child is not fed enough (neglected) or fed too much (over-protected), it may become orally fixated as an adult. It is believed that fixation in the oral stage may have one of two effects. If the child was underfed or neglected, he may become orally dependent and obsessed with achieving the oral stimulation of which he was deprived, learning to manipulate others to fulfill his needs rather than maturing to independence. The overly indulged child may resist growing up and try to return to that state of dependency through crying, acting helpless, demanding satisfaction, and being "needy." Oral fixations are considered to contribute to over-eating, being overly talkative, smoking addictions, overindulging in sugar, chewing on straws, and even alcoholism (known as "oral dependent" qualities). Other symptoms include a sarcastic or "biting" personality (known as "oral sadistic" qualities). Critics of Freud's theories doubt that such a thing as "oral fixation" can explain adult behaviors, and that subscribing to this simplistic explanation can prevent the exploration of other possible causes that may occur. Even psychoanalytically-oriented practitioners have broadened their understandings of fixations beyond simple stage theory. [edit] Two main personality types by Oral Fixation Oral Receptive: The Oral receptive personality is preoccupied with eating/drinking and reduces tension through oral activity such as eating, drinking, smoking, biting nails. They are generally passive, needy and sensitive to rejection. They will easily 'swallow' other people's ideas. Oral aggressive: The Oral aggressive personality is hostile and verbally abusive to others, using mouth-based aggression.

To add to your post Conrad. I had mentioned in my fascination post with Stef that I thought he may of had a speech impediment as a child. I was looking to see if there was a correlation to oral fixation and lisps and there was indeed. However I thought the answer on this psychology test interesting.

psychology test question wrote:

After having been made fun of as a child because he had a lisp, Phil, not only overcame his handicap, but he also managed to get a high paying job doing voiceovers for television commercials. Alfred Adler would explain Phil's remarkable turnaround in terms of Correct D. striving for superiority. Freud is the one who explained activities that revolved around the mouth as being oral fixations.