I thought we'd discussed the word "entitlement" before, but I couldn't find it. In the U.S. some of our government programs, such as Social Security (a mandatory governmental retirement plan where your employer and you put in money) and Medicare (80% medical coverage upon reaching 65, where again the money has been contributed by the employer and employee), are considered "entitlement" programs. I had always thought that "entitlement" was a poor choice of words for those programs since, in each case, the employer and employee have contributed large sums of money - by mandate.

To me, "entitlement" almost means "charity." That is, you feel "entitled" to free governmental programs. Yet, when I look "entitlement" up, it means "the right to have something" or "to qualify." That seems accurate for both Social Security and Medicare because you qualify for them because you contributed to them. They clearly are not charity programs.

Yet, many politicians must think about the word the same way I do. Many sneer at those "entitlement" programs, accusing the American public of wanting free handouts. I want to say, "Okay. Give me, in a lump sum, the money I, and my employers, have put into the system, with compounded interest of course, and I'll invest it myself." Otherwise, all along it has merely been a tax.

What does an "entitlement" program mean to you?

The word doesn't have the same pejorative association that you describe over here in the UK. We do have similar programmes but they aren't called "entitlements", although of course, people qualifying are entitled to them.

A few people use "rights" in a similar way, with scare quotes, mainly Daily Mail readers.

Since charity once meant love, charity once was a love offering. Folks who would rather hate than love don't like entitlements.

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We do have similar programmes but they aren't called "entitlements",

Isn't that what Prince Charles gets when he replaces his mother some day?

My understanding of 'entitlements' in the context of US gov't programs is, as Arnie mentions for the UK, non-pejorative & a/k/a 'rights.'

I expect the scornful association given the term by anti-gov't-'handouts' folks comes from the term 'entitled', which tends to be associated (in the US) with uppercrust folks who assume they have their various advantages 'coming to them' by virtue of the fact that they have inherited them rather than earned them by labor.

It is interesting to see the word used in the same way at opposite ends of the economic spectrum, & probably reflects the high degree of eenomic inequality in the US.

Good point, Bethree, about "entitled," instead of "entitlements." I think you are right about that.