Interesting article in the Chronicle today about “underemployment,” a phenomenon with which I am intimately familiar. According to Tom Abata,
The state Employment Development Department estimates that [the] underemployment rate hit 21.9 percent in September. That figure includes 1.9 million jobless Californians, 1.4 million people who had to work part time, and 865,000 adults loosely described as discouraged.
This struck me as odd incursion of emotion into the world of statistics. That’s a lot of discouraged people, and it doesn’t even account for the disillusioned, the disinterested, the disoriented, the distraught, the distracted, the dissipated, or the disquieted; although, to be fair, there’s a lot of overlap in those categories.
Let us also not forget the discomfited, the disconsolate, the dislocated, the disgusted, the dismayed, the distressed, the disenchanted, the disheartened, the dissatisfied, the dispossessed, the disregarded, the dissipated, the disconcerted, the discontent, the displaced, the disaffected, the dissuaded, the disengaged, the disappointed, the disinclined, the disturbed, the displeased, and the disrespected!
the disemboweled?
Who will speak for the disembowled? I will! I will speak for the disemboweled! I’m doing it right now!