He eats himself

[shatilof]

He eats himself.

I feel, this phrase can be misinterpreted in two ways:

1. He eats his body
2. He can eat witout any help

Am I right?

If I say He eats BY himself, will this be any different than without BY?

Thank you in advance.

 

[emsr2d2]

"He eats himself" is not ambiguous. It can mean only "He eats his own body". If you want to say that he can eat without any help or that he eats alone, then it's "He eats by himself".

 

[teechar]

Even a sentence like the one below can't really be interpreted as meaning that he is literally eating his own flesh, and as a result, will die.
He's eating himself to death.

 

[Peedeebee]

I can imagine an example: "He spends two hours providing meals to everyone who comes in and then when all are served, he eats himself."
But it's a phrase which would only work when a context was very clear. Best avoided.

 

[Tdol]

I feel, this phrase can be misinterpreted in two ways:

It should be interpreted in two ways. If you misinterpret something, you get the wrong idea, so your sentence suggests that both meanings are wrong.