pain and suffering

"Pain and suffering" is the part of a damages verdict that doesn't cover an actual economic loss.  In a car or motorcycle accident, the total damages break out into several parts.  Property damage is the repair cost to the injured person's car (and, conceivably, other property that was in the car at the time).  Lost income is exactly what it sounds like, and so is medical expense.  These are all economic losses, that for the most part can be added up with a calculator.

None of those cover things like permanent loss of use of a part or parts of your body, or the experience of weeks in the hospital, or any of the rest of it.  Money that a court awards, other than for the economic losses, is for these kinds of losses.  That's pain and suffering.