Grammar Girl here.

I'm Minyeon Fogudi and this week I have a tidbit about why we call someone a devil's advocate

and a meeting middle about why lawyers write good thrillers.

You've probably heard the term devil's advocate.

It refers to someone who puts forth an unpopular opinion or disputes an idea just for the

sake of argument.

What you might not know is that for many years in the Roman Catholic Church there actually

was a devil's advocate.

No not an evil minion of Satan.

A theologian known as the Promo-Tor-Fede or the Promoter of the Faith.

This guy had a tough job.

Whenever someone was nominated for canonization, that is for St. hood, the Promo-Tor-Fede

had to argue for all the reasons the person didn't pass muster.

You could think of him as the official church skeptic.

His job was to look critically at all the candidates alleged miracles and good works,

and put forth in writing every possible disqualifying shortcoming no matter how slight.

Because the Promo-Tor-Fede's role was to argue against others in the church, he became

known as the Avicatu-Steobli, the devil's advocate.

The term shifted into popular usage and soon anyone who was arguing an unpopular point

or just being contrarian was said to be playing the devil's advocate.

So that's your tidbit for today.

If you play the devil's advocate, you're staking out a position you don't necessarily

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