I remember that during my initial mortgage licensing course, I found it interesting that mortgages were a way for regular folk (serfs, plebes, proles if you like) to obtain property for themselves and families without having been born under the privilege of wealth; as so few are.

Friends. So. Few. Are. I watch Downton Abby on a repeating cycle so I understand that property was a huge deal back in the day. I mean, it still is but we take it so much for granted now.
 

You can own land, a home of your own, without having the money to buy it. You have the opportunity to prove yourself responsible to pay for it over a time and someone will help you make it yours. The time it takes for you to pay it back is the amortization. Notice the “mort” (meaning: death) in that word.

The death part refers to when the loan agreement is paid, over, ended, dead.

Just to be sure I knew what I was talking about here I looked it up and found the following amusing phrase on wikipedia: “The word mortgage is derived from a “Law French” term used by English lawyers in the Middle Ages meaning “death pledge”.”

Classic Middle Age English Lawyers… so dark.

Currently in Canada we generally use 25 years as a length of time to agree to kill our home loans. Give or take depending on circumstances.

No one gives money away for free, mind you. But I myself find there are so many benefits to owning over renting and the expenses are comparable. So the daughter of a postal worker owns a little piece of Toronto thanks to a tidy little death pledge. And you can too. 🙂

 

Thus concludes our history/language lesson.