wannarexia
n.— «By now, we all know the symptoms: a refusal to eat or to acknowledge an unhealthy weight, combined with physical problems like heart palpitations, hair loss, and amenorrhea. It sounds like a nightmare—but for many young women, anorexia has become a hot new trend, so common that medical experts have coined a new name, ‘wannarexia,’ to describe the dangerous fad.» —“Wannarexia: When Death Becomes Trendy” by Katie Drummond Her Active Life Aug. 8, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Susan from Virginia Beach, Virginia, shares the phrase her mother used when the kids refused to eat: It’ll grow hair on your back teeth. This supposed motivator likely blends two older traditions: a German idiom, Haare auf den Zähnen haben...
To describe something tiny or insignificant compared with something vast, you might reach for phrases like a drop in the ocean or a drop in the bucket. In Mandarin, there’s an equally picturesque phrase that translates as nine cows, one hair, 九 牛 一...