Episode Transcript
This is your host Danny and this is expressions from English plus podcast.
In today’s episode, we’re going to learn about the expression play devil’s advocate. What does that mean? What does it mean if you play devil’s advocate? Have you ever heard of that there is a famous movie good devil’s advocate. I don’t know if you’ve seen it. Keanu Reeves alpa Chino Charlie’s they’re on. It’s a beautiful movie if you’re not sensitive about certain religious issues, because it’s kind of harsh, but it’s exactly what the name suggests the devil’s advocate. Anyway, this is not about movies. This is about this expression. You want to learn what it means stick around, we will learn everything there is to know about this expression and how we can use it in our own conversations. You can find the transcript of this episode on my website English plus podcast.com. The link is in the description. There’s also another link in the description if you would like to check it out, you can become patrons of English plus on Patreon, you will support me Give me more time and resources to create more content for English plus lovers such as yourself. Now without further ado, let’s talk about the devil’s advocate or play devil’s advocate. What does that mean?
Well, the main use of this expression happens in discussions or debates. If you play devil’s advocate in a discussion or debate, you express an opinion which you may not agree with, but which is very different from what other people have been saying in order to make the argument more interesting, or to shed light on certain things that people wouldn’t usually shed light on wouldn’t talk about. So you play the devil’s advocate. Remember, when you play devil’s advocate, you express opinions, which you may not agree with. It doesn’t have to be your own opinions, because remember, you’re playing this role. And don’t think that it’s a bad word. I mean, I wouldn’t want to be called devil’s advocate the word devil. Well, the Roman Catholic Church use this. It is actually the official appointed. The devil’s advocate is the official appointed to put the case against the beatification or canonization of a candidate that is in common terms when they decide whether a man or a woman was a saint or not. So when they want to do this, they appoint somebody from the church to become the devil’s advocate, the devil’s advocate, is this person appointed to put the case against this verification or canonization of a candidate that is to present counter argument to make it more difficult, but for the sake of a better argument, it’s not just you present some information and we accept and that’s it. And that happens when you play devil’s advocate in everyday discussions or debates. You don’t want to make it a silly debate or kind of boring, you know, just where everybody agrees with each other. I mean, that’s boring. If everybody says, Yes, that is the case. No, you need somebody to play devil’s advocate to make it more interesting. So that is play devil’s advocate. I don’t know if you’ve done it before or not. This is the meaning of the expression. Another day, another expression from English plus podcast. This is your host, Danny, thank you very much for listening. I will see you next time.
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