Wordsmith offering for today is......TONTINE Meaning: noun: A form of investment in which participants pool their money into a common fund and receive an annuity. Each persons share increases as members die until the last survivor takes the whole. Its been a long time since Ive heard that word.....and interestingly enough, I first learned about tontine in an episode of M*A*S*H in which Colonel Potter is feeling down after an old army buddys death - except all the others think hes feeling low because of a health issue and they worry about him - until one evening he invites them all to his tent (Hawkeye, B.J., Father Mulcahy, Klinger, Hotlips, Charles) and explains his behaviour and how it relates to a tontine that he and a few of his former army buddies had agreed upon during a preceding wartime experience. Another reason why I loved M*A*S*H so much was the kinds of things I was learning.....those side bits. :-)
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 07:13:07 +0000
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