blue artichoke

Groak (GROHK), (1) n.: one who stands around while others eat, in hopes of being asked to join; (2) v., to stare at other people's food, hoping they will offer you some

I once knew a guy, Sean, who was the biggest food moocher ever. We worked together; when people from work went out for lunch or drinks, he'd clean everyone's plate, in addition to his own. Most of the time he'd ask, "Are you going to finish that?," sometimes while the person was still eating, mid-chew. Sometimes, he'd just reach across the table and help himself, but several slaps on the hand let him know that we weren't cool with that. The rest of us who went out together regularly hated his mooching. We finally started mashing our leftover food together to see if he still wanted it. He ate soggy fries, chicken fingers dipped in beer, licked nachos, everything. Mean-spirited, perhaps, but we were young, idealistic and convinced that mooching off others was the principle reason for the decline of society, capitalism and freedom. I wish I knew the word groak when I knew him. Not that it would make much of a difference, but I'd be able to sit back while he polished off the dregs of various meals and think smugly, "Man, what a groak!"