‘90s Depression

With the depression of the ‘90s in full swing, I’d like to add a few phrases to the language to mark the occasion. If you’ve lost your job after long-term employment (as my father and stepfather did last year), then you’ve been Bushwacked. If you or your partner have taken a low-wage job just to make ends meet, then you are working in the Bush league. And those ever-present, hand-held “will work for food” signs seen around town should be called Bush billboards.

Still, I suppose George Herbert Hoover Bush will be reelected in November. Gee, isn’t there a New York governor out there somewhere who can give us all a new deal?

JOHN SMART

Los Angeles