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
Personal allowance. In the UK tax system, personal allowance is the threshold above which income tax is levied on an individual's income. A person who receives less than his/her personal allowance in taxable income (such as earnings and some benefits) in a given tax year does not pay income tax; otherwise, tax must be paid according to how much is earned above this level. Certain residents are entitled to a larger personal allowance than others.