[Publius6961]

Sarkozy of pursuing policies that target the vulnerable while giving free reign to the police.

OK, that does it.

I could pretend to ignore the creative spelling of some of our duller Freepers, but an international story in English?

Dang!
Just dang!

[SkyPilot]

'Sarkozy of pursuing policies that target the vulnerable while giving free reign to the police'. OK, that does it. I could pretend to ignore the creative spelling of some of our duller Freepers, but an international story in English?

I don't know - they used the Latin derivative for Kingship (reign), as opposed to 'rein', which when used as a reference to "bond check" or an implement used to control a horse actually sounds less appropriate in that context as opposed to Kingship. But what do I know? I majored in Engineering, not English.

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The spelling “reign” in this expression is an example of the triumph of folk etymology over origin. The expression to give free rein to is figurative. It means to give a person freedom to act on his own authority. It derives from an equestrian term: free rein – a rein held loosely to allow a horse free motion; the freedom that this gives a horse. (OED) The word rein derives from a word meaning “a bond, check” from a verb meaning “to hold back. It’s related to retain. The word reign derives from a Latin word for kingship. To reign means to exercise the power of a king. The sense of this “reign” has become conflated with the expression “to give free rein to.”