As for the rest of the time--when I'm watching ballroom-dancing competitions and searching for batteries for my Bop It and extracting all the sopapilla pieces from a gallon of limited edition cinnamon ice cream with the precision of a brain surgeon--there's no real excuse.
Definition of ALLOWANCE: A deduction, an average payment, a portion assigned or allowed: the act of allowing. The Law Dictionary Featuring Black's Law Dictionary Free Online Legal Dictionary 2nd Ed. Navigation
cost-of-living allowancenoun [ C usually singular ] uk â /ËkÉst.ÉvËlÉªv.ÉªÅ ÉËlaÊ.Éns/ us â /ËkÉËst.ÉvËlÉªv.ÉªÅ ÉËlaÊ.Éns/. âº an amount of money that an employee gets in addition to his or her normal pay, because the cost of living in a particular area is high: Nurses working in the capital receive an additional 7.5 percent cost-of-living allowance.