This week's theme: words that aren't what they appear to be.
sufferance (SUF-uhr-uhns, SUF-ruhns) noun
1. Passive tolerance: by the absence of objection rather than by
express permission.
2. Capacity to endure pain, misery, etc.
[Via French from Latin sufferentia, from sufferre (to suffer), from
sub- + ferre (to bear). Ultimately from Indo-European root bher-
(to carry; to bear children) that gave birth to words such as basket,
suffer, fertile, burden, bring, bear, offer, prefer, and birth.]
Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=sufferance
Parents often let children do things on sufferance, by tolerating their
antics. It's useful when there is a need to withdraw that tacit permission:
"Yes, I let you go to the theme park but I never said you could go bungee
jumping."
-Anu Garg
gargATwordsmith.org
"Government exists at the sufferance of the taxpayer and are paid for with
money earned by working men and women."
SD, ANC Bond as Old as History; The Swazi Observer (Mbabane, Swaziland);
Oct 3, 2005.
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............................................................................
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. -Ernest
Hemingway, author and journalist, Nobel laureate (1899-1961)
Forensic Linguistics: Discuss the role of language in the world of crime
and justice, in a live chat with Roger W. Shuy, forensic linguistics expert,
professor, author: Nov 7, 2005, 7 PM Pacific (GMT -8) http://wordsmith.org/chat
Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/sufferance.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/sufferance.ram
Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/sufferance.html
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