Moratorium

Moratorium—it sounds bad with the root of the word being related to “death”—but it can be a good thing depending on which side of the table you’re on. In general, a moratorium is a temporary period of time when something has been prohibited by an authority. An “indefinite moratorium” means they don’t know when they’ll lift the moratorium.

Moratoriums are not uncommon when it comes to environmental issues. For instance, fishing practices that rapidly deplete fish reserves (not giving them enough time to repopulate—let the fishes have their sexy time, jeez!) might cause a moratorium on certain types of fishing, or fishing in certain areas altogether.

In finance, moratoriums can be set to extend the time someone has to pay off a debt, or complete a legal obligation. If you’re a debtor and you get a moratorium on your debt, that probably means you have more time to pay that debt. That’s not so bad, eh?