Attack of the Green Testicle

Now I know what it feels like to be Fidel Castro. For some reason I ate an unripe avocado last night, which gave me a itchy swelling in the back of my throat. It seems I’m allergic to unripe avocado. Eventually the itching spread to the insides of my ears and finally subsided after a couple of hours. As I was searching online to find out how serious my situation would get and what to do about it, I discovered my adverse reaction is caused by an enzyme called Chitinaze, of which there is a high concentration in avocado.

More interestingly, I found out that the name “avocado” comes from the Aztec or Nahuatl word “ahuacatl,” which means “testicle,” assumed to be a reference to the fruit’s shape.

Thanks to Courtney for initiating this voyage of discovery ;-)

9 Comments

  1. Courtney
    05/04/2007

    Yes, yes, hahaha, it’s all my fault. In case any of you are wondering, that “for some reason…” can be filled in with “Because Courtney failed to find a ripe avocado for our guacamole…” I said it before and I’ll say it again: there weren’t any! And it’s not my fault the Co-op was out of their fresh guac! (But I’m still glad he’s not dead).

  2. A. de Large
    06/04/2007

    I feel happy!

  3. James Leahy
    06/04/2007

    I once had to research an awful story for Casualty about a guy who developes testicular torsion which is where some of a gent’s wiring that should deliver blood supply to a testicle becomes twisted, cutting off the blood supply and causing chronic and unbearable pain. The scary part was that it can suddenly and randomly happen. Made for wince-inducing research!

  4. Brooke
    10/04/2007

    Hi Liam,

    I am your cousin Brooke. Duncans sister ‘Sheena’ her eldest daughter. I was the eldest cousin until you :).

    I have a blogspot too brooke-elizabeth.blogspot.com and a myspace myspace.com/chookabok if you want to see them.

    We may never see each other but I just thought I would check in to say Hi!

    P.s- Duncan loves Avacado it’s one of his fav foods :)

  5. A. de Large
    10/04/2007

    Hello Brooke!

  6. Simon Belmont
    11/04/2007

    Who the funt is A. de Large? I’m too old for psuedonyms.

  7. Mr. Dead Inside
    11/04/2007

    It’s me. For a while I wanted to anonymize the blog, in case I felt like venting about work, or anything else that might come back to bite me on the arse later.

    But then I realised I need to do more to anonymize it, and I can’t be all that bothered. And now I’m quite happy with my work situation anyway.

  8. Paul
    12/04/2007

    Testicle problems? At least that’s outside the bulk of your body. MEN…beware the hidden dangers of the prostate! Enjoy it while you can, and ladies, learn to love men’s prostate – Love It, and Men Will Love You!

    (Which leads me to my current theory that there are only 4 types of Conceptions – from Love, from Lust, from the need to shit, from the need to piss.

  9. Khan Noonien Singh
    12/04/2007

    Okay then, Mr Dead Inside. Well that makes sense.

Comments are closed.