The etymology of 'devil's advocate' goes back to Roman Catholic Church practice of grilling candidates wanting to join the church. The advocate basically came up with opposing arguments just to rattle the candidate and see how 'worthy' they were by their ability to defend themselves from the verbal attack.
But "devil's avocado" is nothing. It just came from an obscure Australian comedy skit show from some decade or so back. I think it was called the 'Rhonnie John's Half Hour' and consisted of extremely cheesy skits, of which the 'avocado' thing is the one time I laughed and have never forgotten it. Sorry for that entirely off topic but of trivia!
Spacejunk: I agree absolutely that trying to rid oneself of multiple addictions can be a fucking disaster. I can attest to that with first hand experience because in a moment of intense regret, frustration and total disillusionment with ... well, everything.. I decided that I wanted no more medications or drugs, and in a spectacular fail that one can only do as a knee-jerk response to something, I proceeded to ditch - without any tapering - benzos, SSRIs, opiates, dissociatives, alcohol, and amphetamines.
To my credit, I lasted TWO weeks. Although the main reason I lasted that long is because after the first week I developed a chest infection and high fever and completely lost touch with reality. I couldn't stand up, eat, drink, or do anything and would likely have died had my brilliant plan being cancelled by my brother and girlfriend who took me to hospital where I recovered.
At least I can say that I know have a new personal benchmark for just how bad it is possible to feel, mentally and physically.
But "devil's avocado" is nothing. It just came from an obscure Australian comedy skit show from some decade or so back. I think it was called the 'Rhonnie John's Half Hour' and consisted of extremely cheesy skits, of which the 'avocado' thing is the one time I laughed and have never forgotten it. Sorry for that entirely off topic but of trivia!
Spacejunk: I agree absolutely that trying to rid oneself of multiple addictions can be a fucking disaster. I can attest to that with first hand experience because in a moment of intense regret, frustration and total disillusionment with ... well, everything.. I decided that I wanted no more medications or drugs, and in a spectacular fail that one can only do as a knee-jerk response to something, I proceeded to ditch - without any tapering - benzos, SSRIs, opiates, dissociatives, alcohol, and amphetamines.
To my credit, I lasted TWO weeks. Although the main reason I lasted that long is because after the first week I developed a chest infection and high fever and completely lost touch with reality. I couldn't stand up, eat, drink, or do anything and would likely have died had my brilliant plan being cancelled by my brother and girlfriend who took me to hospital where I recovered.
At least I can say that I know have a new personal benchmark for just how bad it is possible to feel, mentally and physically.
