Sitzfleisch

I do love a good German word, so here is something else to add to your vocabulary (from A Word A Day).

Sitzfleisch

PRONUNCIATION:

(SITZ-flaish, ZITS-)

MEANING:

noun:

1. The ability to sit through or tolerate something boring.

2. The ability to endure or persist in a task.

ETYMOLOGY:

[From German Sitzfleisch, from sitzen (to sit) + Fleisch (flesh). Earliest documented use: Before 1930.

NOTES:

Sitzfleisch is a fancy term for what's commonly known as chair glue: the ability to sit still and get through the task at hand. It's often the difference between, for example, an aspiring writer and a writer. Sometimes the word is used in the sense of the ability to sit out a problem -- ignore it long enough in the hope it will go away.

USAGE:

"Some prominent seats go to those with prominence. Others go to those with Sitzfleisch, like Representative Eliot L. Engel. Every year since 1989, the Bronx Democrat has won a prime spot at the State of the Union Address simply by showing up early and sitting in it."

Elizabeth Kolbert; An Aisle Seat In the House or the Titanic; The New York Times; Jan 30, 1998.