APAD: the world owes one a living

Definition

   The belief that one deserves special privileges without having to earn them.

   

Examples

   1) The world owes her a living, as she is watching TV the whole day, not

      doing anything productive.

   2) I'm not willing to work for it. I think the world owes me a living.

   

Etymology

   The term is thought to have originated in the United States. Mark Twain said

   "Don't go around saying the world owes you a living."

 

Synonyms

   feeling of entitlement, sense of privilege

 

- englishdaily626.com [edited]

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It was a new China but old ideas died hard. Reality taught Bill early that myths

such as "a man above men" and "one excels in book-learning to become a

mandarin," trite and counter-revolutionary fossils as they seemed, were what

life was really about for those born and bred in Confucian land. The tough

peasants he was sprung from, the hard work in school, the tests he aced, and the

elite college he entered all gave him the illusion of a gift and a mission. In

his mid 20s, he could hardly shoulder a pole or tote a basket but trusted that

the world owed him a good living. He didn't realize what he'd given up when he

went abroad.