PUTATIVE is today’s juicy word. It sounds kind of crisp, like a potato chip, don’t you think? Maybe I’m just hungry. Anyway, it’s a noun meaning alleged, supposed or commonly accepted; assumed to exist or to have existed. The putative existence of a sugar-daddy was the explanation given by detractors when asked how the young woman could afford the rent on a $3,000 a month apartment. The putative bank robber was nabbed shortly thereafter, when police following a tip, found the man running away dressed only in a Speedo. Fortunately for the fraudulent dentist, no one questioned him about his putative degree until his patients began complaining to the Board of Dentistry that he couldn’t even fill a tooth correctly.





