Doing Penance

Doing Penance Doing Penance Doing Penance By Maeve Maddox In current usage, penance is associated with spiritual practice as a form of self-imposed punishment: penance noun: The performance of some act of self-mortification or the undergoing of some penalty as an expression of sorrow for sin or wrongdoing. When the word penance came into English from Anglo-Norman, it applied to secular punishments as well as penalties assigned by religious authorities. In modern usage, punishment is the usual word associated with a penalty imposed by a secular authority, whereas penance retains the idea of a religiously assigned or self-imposed act of retribution. Post-classical Latin agere paenitentiam translates as â€Å"to do penance,† and the verb â€Å"to do† remains the idiomatic convention in modern English. For example, â€Å"Though still a promising star, Lohan will have to do penance before shes forgiven for this boring, unfunny feature.† Recently I have noticed the unidiomatic â€Å"to pay penance,† chiefly in the context of sports: Pro football continues paying penance for some players involvement with domestic violence.- Steve Inskeep, NPR. Pay your penance, and all is forgiven- ESPN headline. Fordham is  still paying penance  for the colossal mistake it made when it left the MAAC to join the Patriot League in 1990.- New York Daily News. People â€Å"pay for† their sins,† but â€Å"do penance† for them. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Bare or Bear With Me?Latin Words and Expressions: All You Need to Know5 Ways to Reduce Use of Prepositions